RWBY PI
by R.Lamius
Summary: A sniper enthusiast, a fencing prodigy and heiress to a multi-billion lien company, a former member of the White Fang and a teen boxing champion come together to fight the corruption and crime lurking beneath Vale's shiny exterior. RWBY, Modern-AU. Re-upload! Rated M for safety. R&R and please excuse any STUPID typo's.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hello everyone! I'm baaaack! Author notes are at the end of the Arc. Have fun reading!_**

 ** _I don't own RWBY. It belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, may God rest his soul!_**

* * *

 _Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 1_

 _ **Streets of Vale**_

 _This really isn't my night!_ Blake Belladonna though, as she ran down a back alley.

Luckily for her it was a new moon out tonight and the sky was pitch black. That and the dark alleyway along with her dark wardrobe helped her a great deal in trying to evade her pursuers.

 _Though obviously not enough,_ the girl thought bitterly once she heard a crash coming from the entrance of the alleyway.

She quickly ducked behind one of the trash containers and listened.

Not a moment later there was a large commotion

"Son of a Faunus!" a male voice shouted in anger. "Stupid trash can!"

Risking a glance around her hiding spot, the girl saw the trio of teens that had been chasing her since the late afternoon.

"Shut up Sky!" another voice joined the first. "We don't want the bitch to hear us!"

Blake smirked at the statement, her Faunus ears twitching a little in amusement under their bow. To think that they had any chance of tracking her silently was beyond arrogant.

Not that she could afford to be. After all, unlike herself, the three young thugs in training probably hadn't spent the greater chunk of the last 24 hours running for their lives with no food or rest.

She took a deep breath and examined her surroundings thanks to her enhanced vision. Unfortunately nothing in the form of a potential weapon stood out to her.

 _So,_ she sighed annoyed. _Hand-to-hand it is._

Even as those thoughts crossed her mind she had to admit it was less than ideal. She did manage to scan her surroundings when she entered the alley, but nothing stood out as a potential weapon ( _Props to Vale's cleaning service!_ ) meaning that she had to rely on her own skills to get away.

While she had no doubt that on a good day she could take three times as many untrained young thugs as there, this was not such a day.

For the last 20 hours she had been running for her life, been thrown around various spaces, haven't slept, eaten or taken a break for more than a few minutes.

She had to take them out quickly and hide, because if she kept this up she was as good as dead.

Still,… Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Blake closed her eyes and concentrated, listening to the men's footsteps. She couldn't afford a single mistake this time.

The first move she made was to eliminate their scrolls. The handheld communication devices were the only source of light in the alleyway and removing them would put her pursuers at a great disadvantage.

The Faunus girl listened to every footfall, trying to make out the optimal distance before her pursuers were in range.

Time seemed to slow down as the men inched closer and closer, each step a deafening countdown toward the inevitable.

Once the first of the three was in range, Blake pounced, grabbing the man's leading hand, which held the scroll and twisted until the wrist nearly snapped. Her efforts were rewarded when the small translucent device fell out of the man's hands and onto the ground, light flickering off.

Once that was done, Blake stepped so that her back was against her victim and using his outstretched hand as leverage, flipped him onto the ground.

Her efforts were rewarded with a pained cry as he collided with the hard pavement.

Not stopping her movement for a moment, Blake whirled around and delivered a kick, straight to the abdomen of the second pursuer. The speed of the blow probably caught him unaware as he fell backwards on his rear end.

The last of the three actually managed to get his bearings right and lunged toward Blake, attempting to grab her.

Undeterred by the development, the raven haired beauty simply continued to move with the momentum built up with her kick and drove her elbow into the last assailants face.

The blow might have sent a jolt of pain through her right hand, but the anguished scream and sound of broken bones, told her it was much worse for him.

Not wanting him to recover, Blake drove her foot into the inside of his shin, causing him to drop to the ground clutching his leg.

Between the sheer ferocity of the kick and the heavy soles of her boots, Blake could make an educated guess that the leg was broken.

A sound caught her attention and rounded to see that the guy she kicked in the stomach had gotten to his feet and was attempting to sucker punch her. Due to the sudden darkness however, the hit was wild to say the very least

Ducking under the hit, Blake quickly jabbed the man in his right kidney and solar plexus making him double over in pain again and allowing her to slam her knee into his face, knocking him out cold.

Not wanting to waste any more time with the three, Blake turned and delivered a kick straight into the face of the first man she downed with the throw.

As the unfortunate victim of Blake's last kick fell limp to the ground, the adrenaline that pumped in her veins began to recede and was replaced with strain of the day she just had. Her arms felt heavy, legs started to shake to the point she had to support herself against the nearest wall to keep from falling. Her mind felt bogged down, no longer being guided by instinct and years of muscle memory.

As Blake caught her breath, thinking what her next move should be, she heard a quiet song coming from somewhere in the alley.

It took a few seconds for her mind to register that it was coming from one of the fallen scrolls.

Weakly, Blake picked up the communication device and answered.

"Yes?"

"I suspected that you'd be the one picking up," a quiet male voice came from the other end of the line. "I hope you didn't find the three young men too much of a challenge Blake?"

"Adam," the raven haired girl spat. "What do you want?"

"Oh this and that," the man, Adam, taunted. "But most importantly at the moment I'd like you to come home!"

"Is that why you send these," Blake trailed off looking at the three figures on the ground and quickly realized her three 'assailants' were no older than her. Hell two of them even looked younger. "Boys… Too afraid to fight your own battles now Adam?"

"No," Adam replied calmly. "But I figured I'd like to stop finding my men beaten senseless by you. I thought that these three would at least wear you down enough for my real hunters to catch you."

The words sent a chill down Blake's spine and her eyes immediately started darting left and right, trying to detect if there was indeed someone closing in on her.

"Don't fret my dear," Adam taunted. "They only have instructions to bring you back home, not…"

"I don't have a home," Blake countered. "Not anymore!"

With those words, the Faunus girl threw the scroll away and took off again, leaving the three unconscious boys in the alley behind her. All she could do for them was hope that there was enough of the Adam she knew left to spare them.

Not a minute later, Blake came across a busier street and quickly slid in between the dwindling traffic of people.

Given that it was the dead of night, even in a city like Vale, this was a temporary solution though.

She knew that given the time, the amount of people on the street would continue to dwindle and make her easier to pick out. She needed a place to lay low and recover, at the very least sit down without worrying about every single flickering shadow.

Blake continued to wander aimlessly along the street for a few minutes, before something caught her eye; a night club.

Given the time, the place was probably filled with young people and that accompanied by the dimmed lights and her own attire should at least buy her a few hours of rest, if not the rest of the night. It wasn't after all uncommon for people to pass out in clubs. And while the White Fang had covert operatives, the chances of them trying something in such a crowded, by the sound of it place, were slim to none.

 _Here goes,_ Blake steeled herself and tightened the bowl around her ears to make sure that her ears were mostly isolated from most of the loud music she would have to subject herself to.

The commotion coming from within grew with every step Blake took toward the door and as soon as she pushed the heavy wooden door open, Blake froze.

The scene inside the bar resembled that of an old cowboy movie, or more specifically, the part where everyone started brawling with each other.

Before she could take stock of where to properly avoid the melee however, a yell caught her attention.

"Watch out!"

Those were the last words Blake Belladonna heard before a yellow blur collided with her vision and she lost consciousness.

 _This really isn't my night…_ she thought as she drifted toward darkness….

 _ **17 hours earlier**_

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Household**_

Ruby Rose sat at the workbench in her room, working on a weapon and getting increasingly frustrated with every sub sequential attempt to make the part she was holding fit.

On the workbench itself, balanced on a pair of scale stood a Lagune M28/30, painted in flashy neon red, with an attached sniper scope, which Ruby herself had designed to fit better to the stock and provide more information, such as wind speed, distance, angle and other variables to help perfect her aim, thanks to a small computer fastened to the side of the rifle.

It was a far cry from a professional job and she hadn't really tested it outside the firing range, but so far she reasoned that 6 out of 10 times was good for a first attempt.

The piece Ruby was now trying to adjust though wasn't nearly as cooperative as her scope had been.

"Urgh!" the young teen sighed and banged her head against the workbench. "Still off kilter."

With a defeated sigh the brunette reached for her coffee cup, only to find it empty.

 _I could swear I just made some,_ she thought and scrambled to find her scroll to see what time it was. That was easier on paper though as the entire room was cluttered to the point of it actually looking like a warzone.

Magazines, handbooks, manuals and blueprints lay across any surface that wasn't the floor, which was only spared because it housed pretty much all the parts Ruby needed for said projects.

When the young girl finally found her scroll, it was beneath a pile of empty casings, she was re-fitting.

"Oh," she muttered to herself when she saw it was already morning. "Guess I pulled another all-nighter… I should probably go wake up Yang."

Carefully sidestepping the various objects in her room, including the home made flash bangs, Ruby slipped out of her room and into her sister's.

Predictably, the first thing that greeted the girl were snores.

Loud, buzzing snores, emanating from the battlefield, her sister called a bed.

As usual Yang was sleeping stretched out completely on the bed, limbs and hair everywhere, her blankets indignantly thrown on the floor and her pillow under her feet.

How her sister found such sleep restful was beyond Ruby and the younger girl hoped she would never understand.

"Yang!" Ruby called out from the door. "Wake up! It's seven already!"

As Yang continued to snore, Ruby sighed and moved across the room.

"Yang!" she started poking her sister. "Yang, wake up! We have to get ready for school!"

"Ghhh hway, Rhby!" was all Yang muttered and turned her back toward Ruby.

Ruby sighed in defeat and looked around to see why Yang's alarm clock hadn't gone off by now. A quick glance at the bedside table confirmed her fears that Yang had indeed smashed another alarm clock.

 _Dad is really starting to get suspicious when I tell him we need money for a new clock every week,_ Ruby thought as she surveyed the damage her sister had inflicted on her latest mechanical victim. Upon a few glanced though, Ruby was almost convince she could salvage it this time though.

Still that was for later. Right now she needed to rouse her sister.

"Yang if you don't get up, I am calling Coco and telling her you agreed for her to do your hair!" Ruby threatened.

"Uo, tu nhce fur tht." Was all Yang grumbled and Ruby had to admit she had a point. After all, there were some things you just didn't do to people.

"Okay, Yang… You asked for it!" Ruby muttered to herself and left back toward her room.

Once there, Ruby picked up a shotgun that was stashed in the gun locker on her wall and then picked up some rounds from the cabinet under the rack. On her way out she also picked up her earmuffs.

On her way toward Yang's room, the petite girl started the coffeemaker and chambered a round in the shotgun with practiced movements.

Once those preparations were done, Ruby entered Yang's room and walked straight up to the bed.

"Last chance Yang!" she threatened her sister and when she received no reply, pulled the ear mufflers over her ears.

Then she fired at the ceiling.

Ruby was a lot of things, when it came to guns. Maniacal, obsessed, paranoid about her favorite sniper rifle… One thing she wasn't though was irresponsible.

And that was precisely why she fired flash bang rounds.

They didn't have any projectile in them and were just for show, but they sure woke people up in the morning.

Ruby's efforts were rewarded as her sister indignantly squawked like a startled animal and tumbled out of her bed, face first onto the floor.

Just to make sure Yang didn't fall asleep again, Ruby chambered and fired the second round she brought. As soon as that was fired off, Yang rose from the floor, giving her sister an impressive glare that could send lesser men and women running for their lives.

Ruby though was unfazed and began with a cheery voice.

"Now that I have your attention ladies and gentlemen," she spoke as she removed the ear protection, which was why she could still hear. "It's seven in the morning and some of us take over an hour to get their hair ready!"

"You are a horrible little sister," Yang narrowed her lilac eyes.

"There's coffee and pancakes," Ruby added cheerfully.

"Have I ever mentioned what a great little sister you are?" Yang smiled, all her annoyance forgotten. Coffee in the morning was Yang's greatest weakness and one Ruby constantly exploited.

"Come on," Ruby invited. "Emerald will be picking us up in an hour and you know how she hates to wait."

"I know…" Yang muttered through a yawn. "Thanks Ruby."

"No problem!" Ruby smiled. "Oh, and you shattered your alarm clock again!"

"Meh," Yang waved it off. "It's just one of my _alarming_ tendencies."

"No," Ruby's face fell at the pun. "Just, no, Yang!"

"Oh, come on!" the blonde protested. "That one was good!... Did you even sleep Ruby?" she asked turning serious all of a sudden.

"Not really," Ruby muttered.

"Ruby you need to stop doing this," Yang said in an exasperated tone.

"Crescent Rose was giving me trouble!" Ruby retorted. "I didn't realize how long it was and all of a sudden it was morning and…"

"It's okay, Rubs" Yang smiled and patted Ruby's head. "Just make sure you get some sleep in the afternoon. It is a big night tonight."

"I know," Ruby beamed. "Now get going! I'll have coffee ready in a bit!"

"Thanks!" Yang said and headed toward the bathroom.

 _ **Schnee Manor**_

"Miss Schnee,"

Weiss heard someone calling her, but didn't open her eyes, willing herself to fall back asleep.

"Miss Schnee, its morning." the voice repeated, more on edge this time.

Sighing to herself, Weiss opened her eyes and was greeted by the blinding white of bed's canopy that reflected the morning sun into her eyes.

Gracefully Weiss picked herself up from the bed and sat up, only to be greeted by the familiar sight of her personal maid, waiting to begin their morning routine.

"A pleasant night Miss Schnee?" the woman asked with a smile, just a bit too forced.

"Quite," Weiss replied curtly, forcing her own face to adopt the so called 'aristocratic smile'. Most days Weiss wondered if it was possible to actually have your face stuck like this. Most of the other heiresses she spoke with seemed to suffer from that after all.

"Is my sister in?" Weiss asked as she moved toward the bathroom for her morning shower.

"I don't think so Miss Schnee," the maid shook her head. "But you'll have to ask Mr. Schnee about it."

 _Damn it Winter! Again?_ Weiss thought bitterly, resigning herself to another day of monotony and forced smiles.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Half an hour later, Weiss had taken a shower and gotten dressed.

She had picked a knee-length white skirt, with blue, slowly creeping in around the edges and the sleeves. She had also donned light blue, high laced sandals and to complete the image of a perfect young lade, s small silver hairband was keeping her hair back.

The entire arrangement was Weiss' own choice and it felt… Suffocating.

Everything was so unlike her it was painful.

The dress was suffocating in its tightness, the sandals were painful to walk in and the hairband felt as if it was pulling her hair out.

And the coached smile was still on her face.

Walking briskly across the halls of the manor, she watched as servants moved out of her way as she neared the dining room.

Once in front of the lavish white door of the hall, Weiss stopped unconsciously and took a deep breath, before pushing the door open.

The room, like the rest of the mansion was primarily white, even down to the alabaster wood table and chairs.

The only two other occupants in the room, save the few servants who were hurrying with breakfast were her mother and father, who stopped their conversation as soon as they heard Weiss' steps.

"Good morning, little snowflake!" her mother greeted in her usual fresh and loving voice. Unlike with Weiss' smile, she knew her mother's was the real thing.

Willow Schnee was the happiest person Weiss ever knew, her dark hair in its usual pixie cut and her opposing silver clothes just disheveled enough to make her appear like a living being next to all the meticulously dressed personnel and other high society ladies.

The affectionate name did still get a flinch out of the teen though, despite her best efforts.

"Good morning mother," Weiss bowed respectfully, earning herself a saddened glance from the older woman.

"How many times must I ask Weiss?" Willow pouted. "'Mom' is more than enough!"

"Do not encourage her Willow," Weiss' father spoke up, his voice cutting through the air like a whip, a clear unwavering baritone. "Good morning Weiss."

"Good morning Father." Weiss replied automatically, all the warmth her mother's greeting offered, completely replaced by her Father's cold tone.

Unlike his wife, the head of _'Schnee Mining and Distribution'_ was dressed meticulously, from the freshly pressed suit, to the perfectly tied business tie, right down to the immaculately maintained white hair.

To Weiss her Father looked like a painting, whose pale blue eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went.

Silence reigned for the next few moments, before accepting defeat, Weiss asked the question that had been plaguing her.

"Has Winter come home at all?" the teen asked as she sat down on the table to her Father's right.

"Your Sister," Mr. Schnee began picking up his cup of coffee. "Has been busy with her work for the Atlas military. From what I gathered, she is quite the invaluable member according to General Ironwood. Clearly the private tutors were of benefit after all."

The barb hadn't escaped Weiss' notice and she grit her teeth behind her smile, quietly picking up her utensils.

"Dear, we talked about this," Willow interjected, from across Weiss. "I allowed you to keep Winter homeschooled and that was a mistake in the social aspect. Weiss attending Beacon has proven anything but a mistake in that regard."

"That remains to be seen, once Weiss finally drops her silly hobbies and attempts to take control of a business," the head of the Schnee household responded, his words not laced with either malice of contempt, yet each hitting Weiss like a physical blow.

Only someone like her Father could declare second place in fencing for the entire continent a silly hobby. It was always about taking control of the business with him, nothing else. Weiss was sure that if the man had his way, she would have already been buried under a desk somewhere in Vacuo, pulling her hair out.

At least here, she was buried under homework and people pretending to be her friends, instead of lawsuits and people trying to take advantage of her inexperience as a businesswoman.

How Winter could take the man's philosophy and actually embrace it, all be it in a different direction was something she could never get her sister to properly explain no matter how much Weiss had tried over the years.

The result was one that Weiss both hated and loved; the only way she would ever be considered a candidate for the head of the company was in the unlikely event Winter couldn't. That meant that maybe one day she could be free.

And all it cost her was her sister becoming a cold heartless and manipulative bitch…

It took a lot of pain to get Weiss' cold, smiling mask to crack, but the little voice in her head that whispered that such a sacrifice would be worth it, was enough right now.

"Weiss, honey," her mother's voice cut through the cloud of haze around Weiss' mind. "Is everything okay?"

"Perfectly fine, Mother," Weiss replied, readjusting her smile. "Just a little… tired is all."

 _ **Beacon Academy Student Parking**_

"Thanks for the ride, Emerald!" Ruby waved as she got out of the car with the same exuberant energy she used for everything.

"It's no problem at all," the green haired driver said. "You and Yang are great company early in the morning."

"See you later Yang!" Ruby called out to her sister and headed off toward the school. It didn't escape Yang's notice that Ruby pulled up her hoodie as she came closer to the school. Nor that she missed how her sister wasn't talking to any of her classmates.

"She'll be fine you know," Emerald assured her while locking the car. "No one in school is stupid enough to mess with your sister."

"Oh that's not it," Yang sighed. "She can take care of herself. It's just… She doesn't have any friends Em! It's just me and her guns…. Okay and maybe a few people at the range, but with them it's just… I don't know… Am I overreacting?"

"No," Emerald shook her head smiling. "You're just being a good sister. And speaking of which, what am I? Chopped liver? I don't hang out with Ruby, just because she's your sister. She's actually enjoyable to talk to."

"Sorry, it's just,…" Yang scratched her head. "I worry is all. I mentioned it to her a few days back that she needs friends to grow up."

"What did she reply?" the dark skinned teen asked.

"Said she doesn't need friends because," Yang smiled at the memory, cleared her throat and put up her best Ruby impression. "I DRINK MILK!"

"Hahahaha" Emerald laughed at the image and Yang herself joined her a few moments later. "Your sister is adorable! She'll be fine Yang. Stop worrying!"

"You're just saying that cause you've got nothing to worry about, Miss Councilwoman's Daughter!" Yang smirked, elbowing Emerald lightly. After all one of the reasons she and Emerald managed to hit it off was because the red-eyes girl could take some teasing.

"Hm," her friend hummed. "You'd be surprised."

Yang thought it over for a moment, before shaking her head.

"Nah!" the blonde replied. "I'd be more surprised if Schnee managed to dislodge that stick from her…"

"And I" a haughty voice came from behind the two girls and they whirled around to see none other than the Schnee heiress marching toward them in a manner that distinctly reminded Yang of one of Goodwitch's war documentaries. "Would be surprised if you've actually learned some manners, Xiao Long!"

"Ouch," Yang feinted being hurt. "Hitting me where it hurts the most! My manners! Schnee, you fiend!" at which point Yang burst out laughing and the white-haired 'princesses' expression and was soon joined by Emerald.

"Hmpf!" the white witch, moved pass them, her nose high up in the air. Yang wondered if she could use it as a sun clock. "And you, Sustrai… I am surprised you still hang around such a brute!"

"Just because our families do business together, doesn't mean you know anything about me, Ice Queen!" Emerald spoke in a low tone that Yang had always found to be unnerving. She had known Emerald for the better part of two years now and whenever the normally up-beat girl spoke in a low whisper, Yang had always felt threatened by her.

Knowing her history though, the blonde wouldn't have been at all surprised if that was a defense mechanism left over from Emerald's life before being adopted.

"Whatever," Weiss scoffed and walked pass them. While she walked pass Yang however, her lilac eyes did notice that Weiss' shoulders were shaking a bit.

"Sometimes I really wonder what's up with this girl," Yang admitted once she was sure that the stuck-up heiress was out of earshot.

"She's a spoiled brat, that needs to be put in her place," Emerald declared and for a brief second Yang could swear she saw her best friend's face darken. Not wanting this to be the tone of her entire morning, the brawler reverted to her best skill.

"Leave the Ice Queen be, Em," Yang waved it off and put a hand around Emerald's shoulders. "After all she is _Weiss_ cold!"

"How does your sister live with all those puns?" Emerald asked in an exasperated tone, but Yang felt the tension leaving her body.

 _Mission accomplished!_

"My devilish good looks of course!" she replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

"While I would love," a bored, familiar male voice came from the girls' left. "To see you two kiss, I don't think Goodwitch would approve."

Yang's head snapped toward the source of the voice and saw that her guess was spot on as against the locker stood none other than Mercury Black, a regular at Yang's gym and one of two people who have ever beaten her.

And, most importantly, someone who shared her love of teasing people.

"Mercury!" Emerald glared and marched right up to him. "Don't you ever get your head out of the gutter?"

"Sure I do," the silver-haired male lied and casually turned the page of his comic. "It's just fun to get you mad."

Sensing another squabble, Yang rolled her eyes and stepped between her friends.

"Now, now everyone!" she began. "Before you tear each other apart, could you at least tell me if you'll come see my match tonight?"

"Sorry, Yang," Emerald shook her head. "As much as we love to see you break someone's jaw in the boxing ring, my mom has some work for us."

"Oh," the blonde groaned. "Come on! You guys are my biggest supporters next to Ruby! I need you there cheering!"

"Against Winchester?" Mercury asked, looking up from the comic. "If you need help against him, how do you expect to survive our rematch?" the teen taunted.

"Don't get any ideas Black!" Yang turned around, crossing her arms casually. "I can still take you any day of the week! It would have just been nice to have someone besides Ruby to party with later."

"I see you still have an unshakable faith in your fists, Yang," Emerald smirked.

"Yep," the blonde replied. "And after I beat Cardin to a pulp, I'm gonna use the cash to finish my little project!"

"You mean that scrap pile in Penny's garage is finally going to be built?" Mercury observed. "I thought you lacked… 'Inspiration'."

"Laugh all you want mister, but I am telling you, one glorious day inspiration will hit me and that bike will be ready and I will no longer be a slave to public transport… And Emerald." Yang cheered. "No offense, Em!" she added as an afterthought.

"Yes… It must be torture to ride in an air-conditioned vehicle talking about make-up and chick flicks," Mercury taunted.

"Do you want me to knock you out Black?" Yang asked narrowing her eyes.

"I wouldn't mind," Mercury smirked. "Means I'd get to miss Port's test."

"Test?!" both girls asked simultaneously.

"He announced it last week," the silver haired teen smiled. "Thought you knew?"

"You know very well I sleep through literature!" Yang fumed. "Why didn't you remind us yesterday?"

"Emerald said she'd pay me if I stopped talking for an entire afternoon," Mercury shrugged. "I accepted."

Not waiting for either of his two companions to reply, Mercury strolled off, whistling to himself.

"I'm going to kill him," Yang threatened and tried to take a step forward, only for Emerald to stop her.

"Not before you knock _me_ out!" the green-haired girl pleaded.

Letting go of her anger, Yang sighed and accepted defeat.

"Come on Em," she groaned. "Let's see if we can salvage our academic careers."


	2. Chapter 2

_Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 2_

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Household**_

 _Still, doesn't work!_ Ruby scolded, ripping off the page from her sketchbook, crumpling it and throwing it on the floor, where it joined a small army of similarly discarded ideas and frustratingly improbable designs.

She had been doing that for the better part of 4 hours now, after taking an afternoon nap and her sketchbook was wearing a bit thin by this point. Worst of all she wasn't anywhere near figuring out the design she needed.

Still, at least her day at school hadn't been as horrendous as she expected it to be. As usual Penny had been a great source of laughter and ideas and having Physics with Doctor Oobleck for the last class of the week was a blast…. Right up to the point the fire department got involved.

Lunch with Yang and her friends was nice, though having to console Yang on a D+ was something she could have done without. She did however notice that Mercury looked a bit more withdrawn than usual for some reason.

Ruby shook her head, banishing the distracting thoughts.

She glanced at the laptop next to her and saw that the program had only finished running about halfway through, meaning that she had a lot more time to kill before she could actually test out if Crescent Rose's latest upgrade was actually an upgrade or just unnecessary scrap.

With that checkup done, Ruby's silver eyes drifted toward the lower right edge of the screen, which proclaimed that it was only about an hour or so before Yang's fight was scheduled to start. The ring being only a block or so away from the girl's apartment was a plus, but even so, Ruby knew her sister loved to get ready beforehand, so she would be getting ready to leave about now.

Ruby quickly shut off the laptop's screen and swept the crumpled designs away as best she could as her trash bin was also overflowing.

 _I need to clean up,_ the brunette thought miserably. She hated cleaning, unless it was a weapon. Everything else just seemed tedious.

Ruby shook her head clear of the dread that she associated with cleaning and started putting together the usual things she always took to one of Yang's matches; a few icepacks in a sealed container, disinfectants for any cuts, cookies, for her own nerves, earplugs, several hundred Lien in case she had to bail Yang out of jail during the after party and two homemade flash bang grenades for said party.

Once the backpack was ready, Ruby walked toward the desk, where Crescent Rose was mounted and patted the rifle

"Goodbye, Sweetheart," she cooed.

With the preparations done, Ruby grabbed her red hoodie and started toward the door.

As she opened the door a crack though, she stopped as she saw Yang standing in front of the shelf in their living room, where they kept family pictures.

Puzzled, Ruby remained silent and watched.

Yang was already wearing her boxing clothes, yellow shorts and an orange tank top and her yellow gloves were in hand. Her hair wasn't tied down like most other girls Ruby has seen in Yang's gym, but she knew her sister well enough to know that any attempt to tie down her mane would be met with a lethal response.

Ruby watched as Yang picked up a picture from the shelf.

"Hey mom," Yang spoke and Ruby realized that it was probably the picture of their father's wedding. "Going to another fight," the brawler continued. "You are probably worrying, but please don't. You know me! I always win with a knock-out. After all… I'm a knock-out!"

Ruby actually had to suppress her laughter as she realized Yang made puns like that with everyone, even her mom.

It was funny… And very sad, once Ruby thought about it for a moment. After all, their mom's body was never found after she disappeared, shortly after Ruby's birth. As far as the girls knew her grave in their hometown of Patch was still empty.

Conversing with the picture probably meant more to Yang than anything in the world.

Respecting her sister's privacy Ruby gently moved backwards… And promptly slipped on an empty shell casing that was lying on the floor.

"AAAA!" Ruby yelped as she fell backward, her head hitting the floor of her room.

 _I sooooooo need to clean…_ the young girl thought miserably as she started to pick herself up.

"Ruby, are you okay?" Yang asked as she burst into the room, panic written on her face.

"Yeah, yeah," the younger sibling assured Yang and quickly jumped to her feet. "I'm fine Yang. Just slipped on a shell I was refitting." She lied. There was no need to tell her sister that she saw her talking to a picture of their mother.

"Don't scare me like that!" Yang scolded her, making Ruby duck her head. "I thought one of your crazy experiments blew up!" the blonde sighed.

"Sorry," Ruby muttered sheepishly. "I just got a bit excited and didn't see the blasted thing."

"It's okay Rubs," Yang sighed, smile returning to her face slowly. "Ready to come see me kick Cardin's ass all the way back to his house?"

"Yep!" Ruby nodded, glad that her sister was back to her boisterous self. "I even got the fireworks for the party." The teen informed Yang, patting her backpack.

"In that case," Yang said, heading toward the door. "Onward to victory!" he boxer cheered pumping her fist in the air.

"Aye, aye sis!" Ruby laughed and followed Yang, silently saying a prayer of her own at the assembled pictures as they passed them.

 _ **Schnee Manor, Training Room**_

Weiss pulled down her mask with her left hand, right one holding the foil she was going to wield during the practice.

"En garde!" the referee, in reality a servant versed in the sport, called out.

 _Remember your training, Weiss. Head up, shoulders back,_ the girl thought and observed her opponent.

The man standing against her was one of the top 5 fencers in Remnant and the reason she managed to get to the Remnant International Championship, even if she did lose it by a hair, much to her Father's charging.

"Pret!" the call rang through the room and Weiss brought her left foot* forward and bringing her foil in a proper defensive stance.

"Allez!"

Before the final sound of the command had time to die out, Weiss' opponent lunged forward , foil extended, aiming to take a point at the start. Not to be outdone, Weiss parried the hit, moving the tip of the foil from its course and off the side of her lame**. Defense attended to, Weiss moved her own foil. Scraping it against that of her opponent and angled it for a riposte, but a flicker of movement caught her eye and before she could react, her teacher's foil scored a point off her mask in a flawless disengage***.

"Touch! Arret!" the announcer called and Weiss scowl deepened under her mask. While true that Maestro Piter was one of, if not the greatest fencer of his generation, but the ease with which he scored reminded her bitterly of her defeat at the last tournament.

"Too predictable Miss Schnee," her instructor chastised. "Flawlessly executed, but still predictable and stiff for someone as nimble as you. Again!" he called, pulling down his mask and readying his weapon.

"Allez!"

The moment the second bout was underway, Weiss found herself on the defensive again, to the point she actually moved back two steps, before recovering and attempting an attack of her own, which was easily parried by her teacher, who responded with a riposte of his own which Weiss blocked, but just barely.

 _Not again!_ The white haired heiress promised herself and moved forward, angling her foil toward the Maestro's leg and managed to score, just as his response reached her.

"Touch! Arret!" the announcer stopped the fight. "2:1 in favor of Maestro Piter!"

"One for one exchanges I not a winning strategy Miss Schnee," he reprimanded in a tone that bitterly reminded Weiss of her Father's, making her blood boil.

The girl quickly shook the anger off though as she knew she had to keep a calm head if she hoped to score again. One thing she had learned after so many years was that as soon as she improved Piter stepped up his game to force her to improve.

"Allez!"

Weiss' suspicions were proved correct as the Maestro redoubled his efforts and pressed Weiss harder than before, making her retreat all the way back to the edge of the arena, before she was able to put up a proper defense, or even retaliate.

As soon as she did manage to get a hit in, Piter moved backwards, leaving his foil extended as an invitation for her to continue.

Cautiously, Weiss tapped the foil with her own, testing to see what her opponent would do, but to no avail, forcing her to move forward for an effective attack.

The game of cat and mouse continued all the way back to the center of the arena, where Weiss finally made a mistake by overextending, allowing Piter to once again catch her unaware with another disengage.

Not wanting to fall for the same trick twice, Weiss twisted her body out of the way of the tip foil's tip and managed to hit the Maestro's side, but promptly fell from her lack of balance.

"Arret! Score tied at two a piece!" he announced as Weiss picked herself up.

"Very good, if a bit clumsy," Piter complimented. "Using you natural agility is admirable. Very few of my students could have pulled off something like that. And even fewer would have actually scored."

The praise didn't quite register with Weiss as she picked herself up from her unceremonious fall.

"And how many would have not made a fool of themselves, Maestro?" she asked in a cold tone.

"Perhaps two of them at most," the older man admitted and removed his head protection. "What you attempted was commendable Miss Schnee. I fail to see the reason for your anger."

"You know very well that I can't do something like this in a regulation match Maestro," Weiss bit back, pulling off the protective helmet, allowing herself to be able to see more clearly. She wasn't angry at the man for the praise, but she was angry at herself for making such a stupid, amateurish mistake.

"Ah," the old man's brows furrowed, green eyes full of sympathy. "You loss in the last tournament is still bothering you I see."

"Of course it is!" the young heiress exploded. "It was a humiliating loss!"

"I hardly call 14 to 15 a humiliation Miss Schnee," Piter corrected. "You are after all not perfect."

"No… I'm not,…" Weiss muttered.

 _Not yet!_

"And you might very well never be," the Maestro finished, much to Weiss' surprise. "You are after all, only human."

 _Tell that to my Father!_ Weiss scoffed mentally, but kept a smile on her face as she donned her mask again.

"Thank you Maestro," she lied, hoping her voice wouldn't betray her feelings.

"Very well," the Maestro sighed, oblivious to Weiss' thoughts. "Another bout then?"

Before Weiss could put her mask back in place though, a sunny voice cut through the room.

"Not tonight, I'm afraid, Maestro," Willow Schnee announced as she entered the room holding two dinner plates and utensils.

"Mother," Weiss spoke up dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you, it's 'mom'," Willow corrected her again and then turned toward Piter. "Pardon the interruption Maestro, but my husband decided that he was working late tonight and I hate eating alone. Mind if we cut this lesson short?"

Weiss had to actually resist the urge to groan. Trust her own mother to sabotage her training.

As the young girl searched for the right way to tell her mother to leave though, Maestro Piter took the decision out of her hands entirely.

"By all means," the old man invited with a smile. "It's rare for family to have time to enjoy a meal together in today's world. We shall pick up where we left off next time. Miss Schnee, Mrs. Schnee." the Maestro bowed and headed toward the door.

"Well?" Willow prompted with a smile completely oblivious to her daughter's misgivings about the situation. "Take that mask and gloves off and let's have something to eat."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"How do you like it?"

That was the first word either woman had spoken since they sat down on the bench to eat the two omelets Willow brought.

"It's fine Mother," Weiss answered slowly.

"'Mom'!" the brunette sighed. "Really, one would think that a smart girl like you could remember 3 letters."

While the young girl knew that her mother meant no malice with her words (Weiss honestly had a hard time imagining her Mother even knowing what malice was!) they still stung.

"I can remember them," she replied, choosing her words carefully, her coached smile returning unbidden to her features. "But I find them disrespectful."

"Hm," Willow smiled. "And your father says you two are nothing alike!"

At the mention of her Father, Weiss' grip tightened involuntarily, but fortunately her mother didn't notice it as she was too busy being herself.

"Though, thankfully you aren't as much of a copy as Winter is," Willow continued. "Remnant knows what I would have done with the three of you!"

"Mother," Weiss interrupted Willow's ramblings. "Why did you come here tonight?"

"I told you," the older woman smiled. "I hate dining alone, and I hate it even more when my daughter ignores me." she added waving a piece of omelet accusingly at Weiss.

"I,… I am not ignoring you Mother. I've been busy, is all." Weiss muttered more to herself than anyone else.

"And that is precisely what I mean," Willow sighed. "Between school, your training and your friends from school," Weiss tried not to flinch as her Mother mentioned her so called 'friends'. "You've barely come by to talk to me. At first I thought that perhaps a boy caught you eye,…"

"Mother!" Weiss shrieked and felt her face heating up.

"I'm just teasing, little snowflake!" Willow laughed at her daughter's expression. "But really, you should at least meet up with your friends outside school! Go to a club, let your hair down once in a while!"

"My hair is already down," Weiss observed exasperated.

"It's an expression dear," Willow patted her head. "You don't need to take everything so seriously. You're a young woman after all. You need to do things you want, once in a while.

 _Tell that to Father,_ Weiss thought bitterly, but smiled back and hugged her mother.

"Thank you for the advice, Mother."

"Oh in that case here's another bit of advice," Willow began and pulled away from Weiss. "Take a bath! You stink from all that fencing!"

"Mother!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

By the time Weiss was done with her bath, coupled with her late practice and meal with her mother, it was already nearing nine in the evening.

As Weiss dried her hair he thought a bit toward tomorrow.

Since it was Saturday it meant she had private business classes from nine till twelve, the lunch with her Father, ( _If he was free._ ) followed by a few more hours of private tutoring and two hours of fencing.

In other words, another, boring and predictable day, capped off with a few scarce hours of enjoyment.

" _You need to do things you want once in a while…"_

Her Mother's words rang in her head, jarring Weiss out of her melancholy.

What did she want to do? Or more accurately what _could_ she do?

As those thoughts crossed her mind, the heiress felt a chill run down her back and glanced to see that the window of her room was still opened.

Her first story, large near the outer wall of the estate window.

And just then Weiss realized what she wanted.

Freedom, if only for one miserable night.

Her mind made-up Weiss quickly dried herself off from her bath and started rummaging through her closet.

After putting away all of her normal clothes Weiss settled on her attire for tonight; a white thigh-length dress, a white bolero jacket with red lining and a pair of high heeled white boots.

Once she was dressed, Weiss looked herself over in the mirror, scrutinizing her appearance. It was so unlike her usual attire, which she wore for the sake of appearances that it made her a little giddy.

The one thing she didn't like in her ensemble however was her hair, which didn't really match all that well in its natural state, so she quickly pulled it into a high ponytail on the right side of her face.

 _Not exactly letting my hair down,_ the girl thought with a smirk. _But I believe I like the results._

Preparations complete, Weiss turned off the lights in her room and quietly made her way toward the window, grabbing her purse along the way.

As the white-haired heiress climbed onto the window however, she felt a sudden pang of dread go through her.

After all, what if she fell to the ground? Maybe break something if she slipped? Or perhaps…

 _No!_ Weiss chastised herself. _I am a Schnee, a world class athlete and I, sure as Remnant, am not afraid of some measly four foot gap!_

Her nerves calmed, Weiss jumped. First onto the outer wall and then climbed down into Vale.

 _ **Luna Gym Locker Rooms**_

Yang sat at the bench in the woman's locker room, waiting to be called into the ring.

She hated this part. The waiting. She wasn't good with waiting. Yang always did things as straightforward and as quickly as it was humanly possible.

Still, the need for theatrics didn't escape her. After all it wasn't every day that the local champ defended her crown against a supposed arch-rival.

Once she thought that Yang nearly burst out laughing at the idea. While it was true Cardin Winchester wasn't a bad boxer, to call him an 'arch-rival' was a great exaggeration.

After all a two to zero winning record proved that much and the fact that they were both favored brawling only piled on the advantage for Yang. After all, she could take a hell of a lot more punishment than Cardin ever could.

Sighing in content, Yang began to refit the wrappings on her hands when someone knocked on the door.

"Yang," her coach called. "Showtime."

At those words, Yang quickly fixed her wrappings and slipped on her boxing gloves, giving a few experimental jabs along the way, if only to make sure that they were on properly.

As she neared the ring, Yang's ears started to pick out the familiar sound of the crowd, eagerly waiting for the match to start. It always reminded her of a pressure cooker ready to blow its lid.

She had to be honest with herself that she found it to be an addicting sound.

Once she reached the doors leaving to the ring itself, the blonde stopped, listening to the announcer.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer spoke up. "Let's greet tonight's stars!"

The roar that answered him hit Yang like a physical force, taking a while before the announcer's voice was heard again over the cheers.

"First let's meet our challenger for the night," the man continued once the noise was at manageable levels. "Standing at 6'3" and a little over 180 pounds of pure muscle, I give you… Cardin Winchester!"

The crowd's roar this time was much more subdues and Yang heard several instances of booing throughout, which made her smile. After all this was _her_ gym!

"And now," the announcer continued once Yang presumed, Carding had reached the ring. "Presenting the undefeated champ of our humble gym, Yang Xiao Long!"

At the words, Yang pushed the doors toward the ring open and was greeted with an unanimous roar of approval which she had expected.

Smirking, the blonde teen started walking toward the ring in a slow deliberate pace, reflecting more a model that was on the catwalk during a fashion show, than someone who would be throwing punches in a few seconds.

As she made her way through the crowd, Yang noticed Ruby front and center near her corner, bag in hand and an excited smile on her face.

Next to her sister was a girl with light red hair and turquoise eyes, that appeared to barely be able to stay in her sit, fidgeting constantly. Yang immediately recognized her as Nora Valkyrie, the daughter of their neighborhood's bakery. While not exactly a close friend, Nora's personality and fondness for things that exploded meant that she was a fixture of Ruby's very limited circle of friends.

The one thing that did dampen Yang's spirits was the fact that she didn't see Emerald or Mercury anywhere in crowd. While they did say they wouldn't make it, Yang had secretly hoped Em's mom would let them off the hook at least for tonight.

Once Yang climbed into the ring however, she started tuning everything out; her friends not being here, the roar of the crowd, even her sister's cheers. She had to focus if she was going to win this.

"Done prancing around Xiao Long?" Cardin asked smugly, but Yang only scoffed at the red-headed teen.

"If that was prancing, what do you call your boxing Winchester?" she retaliated, making Cardin' blue eyes narrow.

"Enough you two," the ref, scolded. "Come here!"

Yang obeyed the man and stepped toward the center of the ring, putting her mouthpiece as she did.

"Okay," the referee began. "I want a clean fight, both of you! Obey my commands at all times and most importantly, protect yourselves at all time. Now touch 'em up and good luck to both of you."

Yang raised her gloves for a greeting, which Cardin returned a bit too forcefully in her opinion, but that was just another advantage for her. After all, if Cardin fought angry, she was going to have an easier time dropping him.

Yang returned to her corner and moments later the bell for the first round rang through the now subdued crowd.

Not wasting any time, both boxers began to circle one another, waiting to see who would make the first move, each one of them trying to bait the other.

Yang kept her distance for the moment. With both her and Cardin preferring the up-close and personal style of boxing, she could allow herself to be a bit more relaxed and wait for him to move up first, giving her an advantage.

Which is why the first hit caught her unprepared!

Completely against his normal style, Cardin threw a jab at Yang's head, forcing both her hands up to block in which time Cardin followed with another jab, straight into Yang's side.

The second hit connected, slightly below Yang's ribs, sending a jolt through her left side.

Yang quickly moved forward, to retaliate, but only managed to graze Cardin as he moved backwards as she slung, followed by a cross on his end, making use of his superior reach. This time Yang was prepared for the hit and actually managed to move pass it, ignoring the pain and delivered a vicious hook into Cardin's unprotected right side.

The hit connected, sending the boy staggering away and allowing Yang a moment to catch her breath, realization slowly dawning on her.

Cardin had drastically switched up his game to the point of near unrecognizability, putting Yang in a very big disadvantage. All the training she had done for the match relied on Cardin and her having a similar fighting style and her managing to capitalize on her greater endurance and punching power, while keeping Cardin on the defensive.

With Cardin's jabs however, getting close meant she would eat at least one or two hits on the way in and judging by his stance, Cardin could easily move back, forcing her to either miss or simply deliver a glancing hit.

Cardin, having recovered from the last blow, came out swinging left, then followed up with a right jab into Yang's stomach, before moving out of range of her own right swing, which nearly send her spinning.

Once she recovered however, she found herself facing a rapid succession of right and left hits, until she was in the corner and the bell rang, signaling the end of the first round.

As soon as the referee ushered both fighters into their respective corners, Yang heard her coach calling out to her.

"What in Remnant's name is going on in there Yang?"

"He's switched up his game, Miles," Yang gasped as she removed her mouthpiece. "Endurance or not, those jabs are gonna do me in sooner or later."

"Son of a Faunus!" Miles cursed.

"You know how I feel about that saying Miles," Yang reprimanded as she put in her mouthpiece back.

"Just make sure you end this quickly!" he shot back. Yang was also sure she heard something about 'insufferable' and 'life-shortening' attached to her name, but couldn't be sure.

As soon as the bell rang, Yang again found herself being the subject of Cardin's cheap jabs since he was obviously not going to be playing around anymore. This time, prepared, Yang managed to duck under most of the fast hits, but a few connected, mainly along the stomach and one to her chin, while she only scored two glancing hits onto Cardin's raised arms.

As much as the blonde hated to admit it, her opponent had thought this through for the most part. While it was impossible to escape without taking a hit in this sport, this tactic did minimize that number.

Pretty soon the round turned completely one-sided again, as Cardin's more distanced hits drove the Yang back into the corner, where she couldn't dodge them as effectively.

Just as Yang was ready to resign this round to Cardin, he made a mistake.

While he could have continued to dance around her throughout the round, he moved closer, years of training, obviously overruling a few weeks' worth of preparation, forcing him to come closer for a more powerful blow.

Capitalizing on that, Yang immediately punched him in the stomach, slowing him down and lowering his hands just enough to allow her to throw a left hook to his temple, sending him reeling backwards, disoriented, but the bell rang before she could follow up.

As soon as she reached her corner, Yang dropped on to the stool panting. While she made taking a beating look easy, it was far from it. Her stomach hurt, her arms were getting heavy, she was almost sure that last jab to the face broke her nose and her left eye felt a bit swollen.

"What's wrong with you?" Miles shouted in her ear, so to be heard over the roar of the crowd. "This guy is tenderizing you like a steak!"

"Oh, you know I don't actually need that mu…"

"No puns!" Miles stopped her and gave her some water.

"Fine," she conceded as she spat. "I think I've got an idea. That last bout he made a mistake and I think I can make him repeat it."

"Saw that one too," her coach nodded. "And if you're planning to do what I think you are, I'm going to kill you!"

"Better you than dad," Yang replied and got up for Round 3.

The bell rang again and this time Yang wasted no time, backing into the corner baiting Carding to follow her, landing blow after blow, with the blonde occasionally, answering with her own lumbering swings. While one of her rights connected in Cardin's ribs, she knew she couldn't keep this up and that she needed to force the red-head would blunder again, into her range.

Their little dance continued for the better part of a minute, when after a particularly nasty jab to Yang's nose ( _Definitely broken this time!_ ), Cardin finally closed the distance between them. Not waiting for his next body shot to connect, she delivered a left hook into Cardin's unprotected right temple, nearly flooring him. She followed that up with a right uppercut, directly into Cardin's jaw.

That obviously proved too much for the teen as he stumbled backwards and fell on his back.

Panting from the latest beating she took, Yang waited for the ref to count down to ten, taking the time to catch her own breath as that last swing nearly sent her down right alongside Cardin.

A brief flash of worry hit her as Cardin started to move when the ref reached '6', since she really doubted she could pull the same stunt again with the beating she took.

Her fears proved for naught though as Cardin had barely begun to get up when the ref shouted the final number.

"Ten! You're out!" he proclaimed.

"And winner and still, undefeated champ of the ring… Yang Xiao Long!"

While she would have absolutely loved to revel in the screams and cheers of the crowd, Yang stumbled back to her corner where she saw Miles looking like he might throw a fit and Ruby holding an empty bag in one hand and an icepack in the other.

"Xiao Long," Miles began to scream. "That was the single most reckless and stupid move I've seen in all my…"

"Hold this to your eye!" Ruby quickly moved pass Yang's coach and pressed the pack to her face.

"Thank Ru…" Yang smiled, but was cut off by her sister.

"Do you know that this was the most nerve-wrecking match of yours I've seen thus far?" Ruby asked waving her hands exasperatedly into the air. "I ran out of cookies for my nerves at round 2! I thought you were going to get yourself killed!"

"Nah!" Yang waved off her sister's concerns, but never the less pressed the soothing icepack to her eyes. "Winchester never stood a chance once I got my _hooks_ into him!" she joked, miming a hook with her left hand.

"At least there's no brain damage," Ruby sighed at the pun.

"How can you tell?" Miles grumbled.

"Oh, lighten up coach!" Yang laughed. "It's time we go and party!"

"Just let me get my first aid kit," Miles relented. "Unless you want to go partying with a broken nose and split lip?"

"Fine, fine!" Yang sighed in resignation. "But after that we are going to the _"Nevermore"_ and there is nothing you can do about it!"

Ruby's face fell at the announcement and Yang knew her sister would have much rather the blonde get back home and stay in bed, but Yang simply had too much adrenaline in her to ignore it. Even though she took a beating, she wouldn't be able to fall asleep.

"Look, we'll go see Ren tomorrow, have him look me over," Yang promised. "Deal?"

"Deal,"


	3. Chapter 3

_Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 3_

 _ **Club "Nevermore"**_

Ruby smirked as she watched Yang's antics on the dance floor.

It always amazed her how much energy Yang seemed to possess. Ruby herself was hyperactive, sure, but Yang simply had energy. After all, if not for the split lip and boxing gloves strapped to her waste, one wouldn't be able to tell she was in a fight an hour beforehand.

The blonde was dancing, laughing and from what Ruby was seeing from her spot on the barstool even made a friend or two.

Ruby always envied her for that. Being able to make friends was... Challenging for Ruby. Every time she tried to talk to someone she ended up either mumbling to herself or speaking very fast about guns.

End result was the same though; everyone save a select few ended up avoiding her. Ruby also was sure that the only reason she wasn't teased was because Yang was her sister.

Still, it could have been worse. Right now she was sitting at a bar, drinking alcohol free cocktails and watching her sister having a blast. If Nora didn't have to work tomorrow, she would have even had someone to talk to, but that was a minor gripe all things considered.

Throwing one last glance at Yang, making sure she was okay, Ruby pulled her scroll pad out of her backpack and started looking over some diagrams for her various projects. She figured Yang would be partying for at least a few more hours and since dancing was not one of Ruby's strong suits, she preferred standing at the bar.

Picking a file from her "Unfinished" folder at random, Ruby started looking over the file, searching for something that she might have missed.

The file she selected turned out to be an old flare gun design she was trying to make wrist mounted. The trigger though always seemed to escape her as most of her ideas made the entire design impractical at best.

Sighing, Ruby put her ear buds in and started her music up.

Quickly becoming engrossed in her own little world, Ruby literally jumped as someone touched her shoulder.

"YAAA!" Ruby screamed and fell backwards, hitting someone along the way.

"Ow," the brunette muttered as she rolled to the side and off whoever she managed to fall on.

 _This is why I don't enjoy going to clubs as much,_ Ruby thought and started getting up. _I've got no idea what I'm supposed to do here._

"What are you doing?" a shrill voice caught Ruby's attention and she quickly turned to see that she had managed to fall onto a white-haired girl, who appeared to be the same age as Yang.

"Uh, sorry!" Ruby apologized quickly. "But you startled me and…"

"Do you have any idea of the harm you could have done?" the white-haired teen continued to berate her. "

"Look, if you hadn't startled me,…" Ruby tried to explain, but the other girl wasn't having any of it.

"And furthermore, aren't you a little young to be in such a club,…"

"I'm here with my sister and…"

That however seemed to strike a nerve with the angry teen and she stopped her ranting for a second, giving Ruby a chance to speak freely.

"Look, sorry I fell on you," the younger girl began unsure. "How about we sit down and forget it happened? Start over?"

The white-haired girl raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, looking uncertain.

"Start over?" she drawled out, as if this was a foreign concept for her.

"Yeah," Ruby nodded, her cheerful smile returning. "I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose!" she said and stuck out her hand tentatively, waiting for the blue-eyes girl's reaction.

"We…Winter, Winter Fiel," the white haired girl offered, taking Ruby's hand in a firm handshake. To Ruby though, the handshake felt cold.

"So,… Um…" Ruby began unsure what to say next. After all, this was pretty much the farthest she'd ever gone before when talking to someone new. "Want to sit down?"

"Sure," Winter nodded and followed Ruby toward the bar. "Oh and you dropped your… Drawings." She added and handed Ruby her scroll pad.

Ruby snickered at the expression as she took the pad. When she saw the dark look Winter was giving her though she stopped.

"Sorry, it's just,…" Ruby began to dig around for the right words to explain her sketches. "They're not drawings, they're designs for weapons." She explained and watched as the well-known to her look of unbelievable confusion swept through Winter's face.

"You came to a club," the white haired girl began unsure. "To design weapons?"

"Oh I do it anywhere!" Ruby exclaimed. "It's fun!"

"Fun?" Winter repeated as she seemed to struggle to understand Ruby. "How is it fun?"

"I don't know," Ruby shrugged. "Why is anything fun? I simply enjoy doing it."

"Don't you have any friends or such?"

"Um," Ruby struggled to find the correct answer. "Well,… My hobbies don't exactly appeal to that many people." She admitted. "Not to mention that… Guns are just easier to relate to then people."

Much to her surprise though, Winter didn't just up and leave like most others people had by this point.

"I,… Think I know what you mean," the older girl admitted. "What are you working on right now?"

"Well, it's a…" Ruby began to explain, but before she could get very far, the sound of violence reached her ears and she knew even before she turned around that Yang was in some sort of trouble.

Turning half around, the teen had her fears confirmed.

"Down!" Ruby shouted on instinct and pulled Winter down with her to the floor, just as someone was thrown over their heads.

Now, having a bit more time to look over the situation, Ruby saw that Yang did indeed manage to get into a brawl.

The good news was that from where Ruby was standing, Yang was currently winning, judging by the cries of pain and bodies falling to the floor. The bad news was that more and more of the patrons were joining in and sooner or later Yang would run out of steam.

Ruby did wonder for a moment what sparked the argument, but she was cut short by Yang.

"Ruby!" her sister shouted over the noise generated by the brawl. "Need an exit! Now!"

Her shoulders slumping slightly, Ruby started rummaging through her backpack for the pair of flash bang grenades she carried. The original purpose was for them to merely be fireworks, but right now they weren't going to be used as intended.

Ruby pulled out the two home-made devices, which consisted of metal tubes, filled with the mixture from the same shotgun shells she used to wake Yang. The ignition mechanism for each was a simple wick, but she simply lacked a better alternative.

"Close your eyes, open your mouth and cover your ears!" Ruby ordered to Winter, who was taken aback.

"Do you honestly expect me to…"

"Your loss," Ruby sighed and lit the fuses as she tossed the two homemade devices in different directions, one right in front of her and one behind Yang. Human behavior dictated that they would jump away from the bright flash and sudden noise and Faunus behavior dictated that they should be clutching their ears in pain. Either way it was a straight shot out of there. Knowing that she only had three seconds, the brunette girl immediately followed her own instructions and waited.

What felt like an eternity later, there was a thud that Ruby felt, even though she took all protections to not go deaf. Knowing that was her signal, the girl grabbed her reluctant companion and sprinted out of the club, following the trail of unconscious bodies left in Yang's wake.

 _ **Streets of Vale**_

Weiss was now sure that the universe hated her.

After all, she wanted one night, one stinking, miserable, insignificant night in which she wasn't Weiss Schnee, heiress to the greatest mining corporation on Remnant.

She just wanted to have fun for Remnant's sake!

But no, she had to walk into the one club in Vale where a fight broke out. The one club in Vale where a teenage gun nut was there to fall on her. And the one club in Vale where she was blinded deafened and now dragged out of by said gun nut.

As Weiss ran headlong, hand being yanked forward, her blurred vision slowly started returning to her and she could finally start making out sounds properly.

"Nice save Ruby!" was the first clear thing Weiss heard and immediately her heart sank. She knew the voice.

It was Xiao Long's voice. Narrowing her eyes so she could bring images into clear view, Weiss saw that she was indeed running after a mane of yellow hair.

Upon the realization, Weiss immediately dug her heels back and pulled her hand free of the younger girl's grasp.

"Xiao Long!" Weiss snapped, putting on the coldest voice she could muster at the moment. It seemed to have the desired effect though as both of the other girls stopped dead in their tracks.

Now that she wasn't being dragged headlong through Vale and could actually catch her breath, Weiss saw that before her was indeed Yang Xiao Long, who appeared to be fresh out of one of her ridiculous boxing matches. What was peculiar right now though was that there was someone, clearly unconscious, slung over Xiao Long's shoulder.

The blonde brawler turned around and her lilac eyes narrowed at the sight of Weiss.

"Schnee!" the blonde hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Ask your… sister," Weiss suggested with a taunting smirk. "She's the one that dragged me here."

"'Schnee'?" the younger girl asked confused. "I thought you said your name is 'Fiel'?"

"I lied you dunce!" the Schnee heiress protested.

"Hey, don't insult my sister!" Yang yelled back. "What'd she ever do to you?"

"Oh, nothing," Weiss taunted further. The one thing that Xiao Long was good for was that Weiss didn't have to pretend to be a bitch with her. She actually hated the blonde. "Besides deafen and blind me!"

"Hey, I told you to close your eyes and cover your ears!" the smaller girl protested.

"You're a hazard to my health, now shut up!" Weiss snapped at her, causing Ruby to jump backwards from her. "Let the grownups talk! And speaking of which, what is your sister doing in a bar? She's too young for that you know!"

"Oh, excuse me if am trying to get my sister a life, princess!" Yang shouted back, but then smirked. "And what, in Remnant's name were you doing there? Did someone let your leash go enough that you were actually allowed into the real world?"

The words hit Weiss like a slap and stopped her next retort in its tracks.

Mostly because of how true Yang's words were. While better off than her sister, Weiss had been confined between school and her home for the most part. The major source of her outings were family functions and events.

She steeled herself though as she couldn't let Xiao Long see how right she was. After all a Schnee never showed weakness.

"I go where I want!" Weiss bit back. "And why is there a person over your shoulder?"

At that the blonde appeared to become skittish and started scratching her head in embarrassment.

"Yeah," Yang began. "She sort of walked in right as Ruby was setting off those flashbangs and I knocked her out. Couldn't just leave her to get trampled."

"Figures you'd knock someone out just for being in your way," Weiss scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I've got half a mind to knock you out, Ice Queen!"

"What mind?" Weiss laughed, though as she saw that Yang was advancing toward her.

Before any actual violence could be achieved however Ruby interrupted their quarrel.

"Um, you guys," the younger girl called hesitantly. "Is he okay?"

Desperate for a diversion, as she was sure Xiao Long would kill her very soon, Weiss stalked toward the spot the younger girl was staying and saw what had caught her attention.

Right behind one of the dumpsters, lay a man, significantly older, probably in his late 30's. He was sprawled face down onto the ground, his limbs bent at odd angles. Then Weiss noticed the smell.

While mostly covered up by the stench of the dumpster, a thick metallic scent reached Weiss' nose and it immediately drew her attention toward the man's clothes. There she noticed two neat holes near the center of his chest.

"Back, both of you!" she snapped at the approaching two girls.

"You ain't the boss of me Schnee!" Xiao Long protested and Weiss had to fight the urge to let the blonde incriminate herself very hard.

"Look, Xiao Long," Weiss snapped and moved in front of the larger teen. "I don't like you and I am not going to pretend otherwise! But I am not letting you tamper with a crime scene!"

The words seemed to freeze Yang in her place, her mouth hanging open in an unspoken retort. If not for the situation they were in, Weiss would have probably pulled out her scroll to take a picture at her biggest detractor's expression.

"Wait," Yang's sister came to the realization first. "You mean he's actually,…" the words died in the younger girl's throat as she spoke them and for a brief moment, Weiss' mask slipped and her expression softened.

Only for a moment though.

"Yes, he's dead," the heiress nodded. "Murdered probably." She added glancing at the two, what she presumed, bullet holes. "Which means, we need to call the police."

As Weiss pulled out her scroll though, a stray little thought entered her head; she was about to call the Vale Police Department. Check. Tell them that she was at the sight of a murder. Check. Give them her name. Check. Her father finding out and killing her for sneaking out of the house…

 _Son of a Faunus!_ Weiss cursed inwardly, staring at her scroll. No way could she report this. Not unless…

"We will have to make it anonymously though," she explained, trying to sound as natural as possible.

"Why?" Ruby asked innocently. "I mean it's not like we killed him, what do we have to worry about it?"

Weiss bit back several more curses that delved quite deep into the family trees of Faunus and started to look for a logical reason to actually make this into an anonymous call.

Then it hit her.

"We have to make it anonymous because we were just involved in a brawl because of you two," Weiss lectured them and she didn't even have to lie, since it was true. "Do you honestly think that the VPD will overlook that or the explosives she detonated?"

That got the reaction Weiss desired as both girls appeared at a loss for words as she dialed the VPD emergency number.

"Hello? Yes I would like to report a dead body. Yes, a few block away from club _'Nevermore'_. My name? Oh, yes,…" with that Weiss cut off the call. "I suggest we leave and never speak of this again."

"For once Schnee, I agree!" Yang declared. "Come on Ruby!"

The younger girl followed her sister, but Weiss saw her throw one last glance backwards before pulling on her hood.

 _Did she look… Hurt?_ Weiss questioned, but quickly dismissed the thought. She had to get away from here as well and start making her way home.

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Residence**_

Soft.

That was the first sensation Blake awoke to.

And it was a very frightening sensation, but she quickly reigned in her fear.

The last thing she recalled clearly was walking into the nightclub and getting hit hard by something. Given that she was in a comfortable bed right now instead of a jail cell, told her that someone brought her somewhere.

The question was who.

Unfortunately for her, someone from the White Fang seemed the most obvious answer as there were very little residence of Vale, be they Faunus or Human, who'd just bring a stranger with no ID into their home.

That meant she needed an escape plan.

Moving as little as possible, Blake started to take note of her surroundings, but that proved hard as the only thing she could see without moving from her current position was a wall and a few books stacked on the night table. Not risking turning around for a better look, Blake carefully extracted on of her hands from beneath the covers and grabbed the book sitting on the top of the pile.

Given her weariness, she really didn't trust her own limbs right now and a weapon, even one as improvised as this was a welcome feeling.

Just as Blake was able to hide the book under the cover, her Faunus ears, still thankfully under the bow picked up approaching footsteps and soon after a door opening. She didn't hear a lock though which was odd, but it was something easily chocked up to overconfidence on her captor's side.

A few seconds later, the footsteps stopped and Blake felt someone hovering over her. Not wasting the opportunity, Blake slung the book in her hand as fast as she could from her laying position and was rewarded with a jolt going through her limbs and the satisfying sound of someone falling to the ground.

Not wanting to waste any more time than she already had, Blake jumped out of the bed and was greeted by….

What appeared to be a fairly normal bedroom.

Wallpapers of various bands adorned the walls, hiding the mostly faded orange wallpaper. A desk was sitting directly across the bed, mostly buried under notebooks and scattered pieces of paper. In one corner of the room, there was a boxing bag that hung from the ceiling. On the other side of the room there was a large dresser, with a gym bag in front.

Feeling that she made a very big mistake, Blake glanced down and saw that the person that was sprawled on the floor, holding the side of their face was a girl, looking around the same age as her, golden blonde hair that almost looked unnatural. What drew Blake's attention though were the bruised knuckles on the girl's hands as well as what appeared to be a split lip.

"Ow," Blake's victim complained as she slowly got up from the floor. "Port was right… Literature is going to be the death of me."

"Are you okay?' Blake asked, helping the girl to her feet.

"Weirdly enough this is the first time someone's knocked me out when not in the ring," the blonde mused. "And I guess that does make us even."

"Even?" Blake asked, eyes narrowing and immediately felt her right eye sting a bit.

"Well, I did give you that shiner last night," the blonde smirked.

"You knocked me out?" Blake asked.

"It was an accident," the other teen protested. "You walked in as I was making my escape! Oh, name's Yang by the way." She introduced herself and extended her hand.

Blake eyed the other girl, slowly moving between the outstretched hand and her face, searching for any signs of deception, but found none.

"Blake," the Faunus offered. "Blake Belladonna."

"Bella… donna…" Yang said musingly. "Oh I can have some fun with that!"

Before Blake could ask what Yang meant by 'fun' there was a gunshot sound and Blake dove down on the ground on instinct, dragging Yang along with her.

"Yeah" Blake heard Yang speak. "Probably should have warned you about that."

"About what?" Blake asked, still searching for where the sound came from.

"My sister is a bit of a gun… enthusiast and it gets a bit noisy around here." Yang explained and started to get up.

"Enthusiast,…" Blake breathed, trying to get her heart rate under control. She was used to fighting, but it didn't matter how much one was exposed to it, sudden gunfire, caused one's pulse to skyrocket. Having ears that were so sensitive to sound, also didn't help.

"Does help you not oversleep," Yang admitted.

"That it does," Blake nodded, fighting the urge to rub her cat ears. As she looked for something to take her mind off the problem, she did notice that she wasn't wearing her normal black and white attire.

"Why exactly am I wearing an oversized stripped sweater?" Blake asked in a perfect monotone voice, gesturing to the yellow and black wool monstrosity she was wearing.

"Since your clothes… Well,… Reeked," Yang answered. "This was pretty much the only thing in my wardrobe that could fit you."

Blake fixed the other girl with her best stare, which seemed to have the desired effect.

"Look I have someone coming over to see if she can whip something up for you," the blonde explained. "In the meantime, do you want something to eat?"

At the question, Blake's stomach growled in response.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Yang declared and started dragging Blake out of the room, before the Faunus could protest.

The room Blake was dragged into was spacious, perhaps even a bit too spacious, as the lack of furniture, made the entire place seem kind of empty. The only things in, what Blake assumed was a living room were a table surrounded by three sofas, all arranged around a wall mounted TV. Behind the sofas there was a dining table with four chairs, which was littered with notes and what Blake would assume was schoolwork.

There were three other rooms, besides the bedroom Blake was pulled out of and a small kitchenette housing a rather large refrigerator.

 _How does she afford this?_ Blake asked herself as she looked around the kitchen area. Everything seemed new. _Maybe her sister is ol…_

"Ruby! Breakfast!" Yang called out.

"Coming!" a cheerful voice called from one of the rooms, immediately dismissing Blake's notion that Yang was supported by her sister.

"So, Blake-y, anything you might want?" Yang asked, drawing Blake's attention, not only with her question, but with the sheer sense of familiarity she used when addressing Blake.

Blake narrowed her golden eyes at Yang, studying her.

This girl, not older then Blake herself, took a stranger into her home, where she was living with her sister alone, by the looks of the place, was now referring to her with a sense of familiarity that Blake hadn't heard from anyone in her life, save…

Blake shook the thought away and refocused. Now was not the time for self-pity or distractions. She needed to get her bearings, get some food and then run.

"Do you have any tuna?" she asked politely.

"Yeah, I doubt it," Yang scratched her head. "Would you mind leftover pizza or sugary cereal?"

Blake resist the urge to cringe barely, but even so she couldn't exactly be picky.

"Cereal," she relented and sat slowly on the table, several of her bruises from last night making their presence known.

"Coffee or tea?"

"Tea," Blake replied.

"Here ya go!" Yang announced and placed a bowl of cereal and a coffee mug full of tea in front of Blake.

Over a day of not eating and physical exertion took their toll and Blake started inhaling the cereal, table manners forgotten. About half-way though the bowl, Blake heard a laugh and saw that the other teen was concealing her mirth badly.

"I'm sorry…" Yang managed through bursts of laughter. "But that was hilarious. I haven't seen anyone eat this fast in a very long time!"

Before Blake managed to decide if she should ask who could eat faster than that or apologize, there was a ring on the door.

'That should be my friend," Yang explained. "Just relax and whatever you do,… Don't. Show. Fear!"

Leaving Blake to ponder on her words Yang went toward the front door.

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Residence**_

Yang opened the door and was greeted by a sight she had grown accustomed to, whenever she called for fashion advice, be it for herself or Ruby.

In the stairwell hallway stood a girl, taller than Yang herself, with fair skin, and wavy, dark brown hair, which was dyed in gradient red in one end. She wore a cocoa-colored long shirt with a dark brown corset, combined with long dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side. Yang saw that she had a pair of belts, one black and one that was a matching color to her shirt. On her feet there were a pair of dark brown high-heeled leather boots with buckles. Completing the entourage were fingerless black gloves, pair of scarves and a black barrette on her head.

Coco Adel, a woman who was both a master of fashion and the only other person to be able to go 15 rounds with Yang before both of them collapsed from exhaustion in the middle of the ring.

"Hey Coco!" Yang greeted and pulled the girl into a hug. "Glad you could make it!"

"Hey Yang," Coco greeted much more studiedly. "And you know I'm always available when it comes to fashion."

"I could tell by the interrogation you put me through on the phone," Yang joked and her eyes drifted toward the huge bag next to Coco.

"What?" the fashionista asked as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "How would I know what to bring if I didn't ask you all that?"

Looking skeptically, Yang mimed holding a phone and put on her bet impersonation of Coco.

"'And don't forget to check the toes for nail polish!'"

"Okay, so maybe that was a bit much," Coco relented, though she did appear a bit put off by the mimicry. "Now come on!"

Grabbing the bag and swinging it effortlessly over her shoulder, Coco strolled into the apartment as if she owned the place and marched straight toward the table, where Blake was looking rather intimidated by Coco's scrutinizing glare.

Knowing what was going to happen next, Yang simply sat down on the table and quietly started on her own breakfast.

True to form, after several minutes of scrutinizing, Coco grabbed Blake and along with the giant bag dragged them into Yang's room, as Ruby finally emerged from her bedroom, looking a bit ragged in Yang's opinion.

"Rubs, you okay?" Yang asked worried.

"Yeah," Ruby nodded, but quickly relented as she accepted a bowl of cereal from Yang. "Not really, couldn't sleep to be honest."

"Anything I can do?"

"Besides erasing last night from my memory?" the younger girl asked with a sigh.

"Kept you up too, huh?" Yang admitted.

Yang herself wasn't able to sleep that well. After all, that was a dead body they saw last night. The adrenaline and the sheer rush that the night had been up to that point pretty much dulled the effects (Schnee being there as a distraction really didn't hurt matters), but when Yang and Ruby got home, it hit yang exactly what they saw.

Almost immediately after Yang placed Blake in her bed and bid goodnight to Ruby she went into the bathroom and heaved. The nightmares that came later, didn't really help things.

She wasn't a romantic like Ruby and knew pretty well that her father being a military contractor translated to a lot of people dying, but even so it was something… abstract. Something she'd never really experienced or seen up until now.

Last night was… Fresh, real.

"Yeah," Ruby admitted. "Managed some sleep though." Her little sister added in a more upbeat tone, clearly just trying to cheer Yang up.

"Better than nothing," Yang conceded.

"So," Ruby drawled out, her tone suggesting to yang she was trying to change the topic. "Did our guest wake up?"

"Yeah, actually managed to talk to her a bit." Yang nodded, happy for the change of subject. "Said her name is Blake Belladonna. Didn't get much further before Coco showed up."

"You knocked the girl out and now you're subjecting her to Coco?" Ruby asked with a chuckle. "Yang you might end up charged for torture."

"Not my fault that the girl didn't have any clothes with her," Yang defended herself valiantly.

Thankfully before Ruby could protest, Coco re-entered the room, but before Yang could needle her about not taking her time, when she saw the girl's eyes.

"Coco, what's up?" Yang asked, getting up.

"Velvet called from the café," the older girl explained. "Nora's there crying and claiming that Ren got arrested."

"What?!" Yang and Ruby asked in unison.

"What I just said," Coco replied. "Grab your new friend or leave her here, I don't care! We're going to get the whole story!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 4_

 _ **Vale Police Department**_

Commissioner Ozpin stared at the chessboard in his office, most of the figures laid to the side. To anyone walking in it would just seem like a pointless exercise being performed by a novice player, but to him, every piece was part of a puzzle. A puzzle to which he had precious little pieces.

Sighing, the white haired man threw the board one final futile look and picked up the stack of documents on his table. As much as his problems vexed him, he couldn't go around ignoring his other work.

As he picked up the first document from the pile however, a knock on his door, caught his attention.

"Yes?" the man asked and the door opened, revealing a tall teenage boy, with messy blond hair, wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans, a stack of papers in his hand.

"Mornin' Commissioner Ozpin," the young man greeted with a wave, but to Ozpin's trained eyes the youth appeared to be barely holding his eyes open.

"Jaune," Ozpin returned the greeting. "I trust your night was pleasant?"

"Eh," the teen shrugged, rubbing his eyes. "It was long, I'm sure of that."

"One needs to learn all aspects of police work if they wish to join the force, Mr. Arc," Ozpin reminded. "I too once was stationed at such a post. I admit I found the experience to be the most boring year of my life. It was also enlightening however."

"I'll… Take your word on that," Jaune shrugged. "Next time, mind warning about the horrid work hours before I sign the internship?"

"I did warn you that this was a demanding job when you came to me a few months ago, Jaune," Ozpin replied calmly.

"Yeah, guess you did," Jaune chuckled and placed one of the folders he was holding on the desk. "The 211 call reports you requested, Sir."

"Anything interesting?" Ozpin asked as he flipped the folder open.

"Can't be certain," Jaune replied sheepishly. "But I must say, it's a bit frightening how many murders take place in Vale. Three last night."

"As much as we paint Vale to be a crime free environment, it is still a city Jaune. And cities are filled with flawed individuals."

"Guess it is," Jaune replied stifling a yawn.

"Go home Jaune," Ozpin encouraged. "The report appears excellent."

"Thank you, S-s-s-sir." Jaune managed through a yawn and shuffled out of the office, though Ozpin saw that he barely made it to the honored "VPD Couch for the Deathly Exhausted", before he fell asleep on it.

Smiling at his newest aid's actions, Ozpin pulled out the three files regarding the murders.

The first was a self-defense case, Faunus shooting another, during a burglary. The shooter confessed immediately, so Ozpin left it to the side.

The second appeared to be a robbery at a liquor store, shopkeeper dead on sight, several leads pointing at the White Fang, but Ozpin dismissed it as well. The White Fang was anything but petty crooks. More likely it was a human masquerading as a Faunus to shift the blame.

The last file though was something worth taking a second look at.

An anonymous tip off about a dead body near a club. Jaune's notes described the voice of the tipper as young, calm and female. (The Commissioner disregarded Mr. Arc's note questioning if the girl was 'hot'.) That struck a nerve in Ozpin's mind. It was very much a longshot, but if he was right about this, it was his first tangible link to his problem.

Not wasting a moment, Ozpin picked up his scrollpad and dialed up the crime lab.

"Good Mor… Oh, Commissioner Ozpin," the secretary stumbled. "What can I do for you sir?"

"I would like the information you have on a murder case," Ozpin explained quietly. "It was reported last night. The dead body in an alley."

"Yes sir," the woman on the other side of the line nodded and started typing something on her computer. A few seconds later though she stopped and turned back toward Ozpin. "Um, Commissioner Ozpin? There is already a suspect in custody."

That bit of information, struck a chord, which immediately started to play havoc with Ozpin's mind. It was impossible for her to make such a horrendous mistake. She was far too good for it. No, this was a scapegoat. One that he now had to clear if this situation was to be even remotely salvageable.

The seasoned Commissioner didn't let any of that show on his face however and the only indication his subordinate received that something was wrong, was a pause, slightly longer than normal.

"I see," Ozpin drawled out. "Never the less I want all the information you can provide on the case."

" _ **No Breaks" Café**_

"We're here!" Coco announced as she pulled into the parking slot in front of her café.

The statement was met with groans from most of the passengers, most notably Blake, who Yang realized, was now a peculiar shade of green.

The blonde quickly realized that unlike her and Ruby, Blake probably didn't have a chance to meet such an… enthusiastic driver such as Coco, for whom speed limits and sidewalks were just minor things.

"You okay?" the blonde asked their unwilling companion. While Yang was a good person, she wasn't about to leave a total stranger alone in her own house after all. She might have been blonde, but she wasn't that blonde!

"I've been on roller coasters that took turns slower," the raven-haired girl replied.

"Yeah, Coco doesn't put much stock in breaks," Yang admitted. "Still! It was an admirable performance! Ruby threw up the first ten times."

"Ya-a-ang!" Ruby groaned at her for revealing some of the more embarrassing memories the two shared.

"What?" Yang asked innocently. "Just saying, would have been a shame to ruin the new outfit." She gestured toward the ensemble that Coco had managed to put together.

The outfit itself was rather simplistic (At least compared to most things Coco threw together.) and it consisted of a white, long sleeved V-neck zip-up shirt that is black along the bottom with black pants, white vertical stripe on the outer side of each leg. A stylish black belt and boots completed the look, along with the bow that was still present on the girl's head.

The bow really seemed out of place to Yang though. The girl looked composed, mature and quite frankly, like she was twice her age. The somewhat childish bow dispelled that image.

 _Then again, I wear short shorts and a vest, who am I to judge?_

The trio followed Coco into her café, where they were greeted by a literal giant of a man, wearing light green samurai armor, with a horrendously large odachi sword.

Yang felt a tap on her shoulder and saw that Blake had leaned forward.

"Why is he dressed like that?" she asked.

"Coco's business is a cosplay café," Yang explained. "Yatsuhashi is one of her two biggest client draws."

"Where is she, Yatsuhashi?" Coco asked as soon as she was close enough not to draw too much attention from the patrons.

Instead of answering verbally the tall man simply pointed back to where Yang knew Coco's office was.

To anyone not familiar with the giant, they would have easily labeled his behavior as dismissive, but it was far from it. In fact, Yang didn't really recall ever hearing Yatsuhashi speaking.

"Velvet with her?" Coco asked after a brief look around the cafe.

Another nod from Yatsuhashi.

"This way you three!" the girl ordered yang and her friends, taking off her sunglasses with a flourish as she walked through the establishment.

Despite the grim situation, Yang almost laughed at Coco. No matter what, the girl always felt the need to look stylish.

Still this wasn't the time for laughing. If what Coco said was true (And Nora wasn't over exaggerating) then things were pretty bad.

Inside Coco's office, the girls found Nora sitting behind Coco's desk still in her pajamas, crying, if Yang were to judge by the amount of tissues she was doing that since she arrived.

"How is she Velvet?" Coco asked the other girl in the room and Yang's eyes were immediately drawn to the other major reason why the _"No Breaks"_ café was so popular.

The girl was around Yang's height with long brown hair and eyes and was wearing what Yang suspected was the fantasy outfit of every male who has ever walked the streets of Vale.

Dark pantyhose leading to a one piece bathing suit that clung to her body of while still revealing just enough to make the imagination run wild. A little bow tie looped around her neck. Bringing up her hand to wave happily, she revealed cuffs covering each wrist.

What was really completing the picture were the pair of long rabbit ears that Yang knew were not fake. Velvet Scarlatina was to Yang's knowledge one of the happiest Faunus in Vale. After all she might have a job where she dressed as eye-candy, but she was the only one of Coco's waiters to have card-blanche by the manager herself to dump liquid in the lap of any patron who didn't understand the "Look but don't touch!" policy of the establishment.

"Not so good," the Faunus girl replied timidly. "I wouldn't suggest questioning her Coco."

"How are we going to get the whole story then?" Ruby asked from behind Yang.

A second later Ruby understood the error of her question.

Nora's head immediately shot up and the girl started to produce sounds that Yang wasn't even aware a human being _could_ produce, several of the even reaching the hypersonic range, if Velvet's reaction was any indication.

As the amount of hysteria in Nora's voice grew however, Coco finally took charge. The fashionista manager simply moved behind the wailing girl and without any warning smashed her handbag into Nora's head, knocking the younger girl out.

Yang blinked along with everyone else at Coco's ruthless dispatch of their friends, until Blake voice the question on everyone's mind;

"What in Remnant did you do that for?"

"You're new! Don't question me!" Coco snapped, though to Yang's surprise Coco's tone didn't have quite the reaction expected.

"Why?" Blake repeated, eyes narrowing.

"She was starting to irritate Velvet," Coco sighed tiredly. "Faunus have sensitive hearing and it was hurting her. Besides, it was pretty clear we weren't going to get anything useful. Besides, I am willing to bet Lien to lettuce that Velvet heard the entire story about a dozen times."

"It was still cold," Blake didn't back out and Yang had to admit, that this girl had one hell of a backbone. It was liable to get her another trip to dreamland, but it was admirable.

"It was effective," Coco replied, but Yang saw her expression soften. "Besides the way she was going she was more likely to hurt herself."

At the admission Blake seemed to recede a little and Yang used that opportunity to diffuse the situation.

"Velvet, why don't you tell us what Nora said?" Yang prompted, placing a hand on Blake's back to draw her back a bit.

"It was pretty much like I told Coco on the scroll," Velvet replied. "Nora barged into the café screaming that Ren was taken by the police. I managed to calm her down a bit from the start and she managed to elaborate. Apparently she woke up and was preparing to go to her job when the police appeared at their apartment and arrested Ren. Something to do with some body discovered near the _"Nevermore"_ last night…."

The name struck Yang like a sack of bricks and she immediately stopped Velvet.

"" _Nevermore"_? As in club _"Nevermore"_?" Yang demanded from the older girl.

"That's what Nora said," Velvet confirmed slightly confused.

"Oh crap,…"

"Why is the location so important?" Blake asked, but before Yang could form a proper response, Ruby filled her in.

"That was where we were last night," the younger girl supplied. "We placed the 211 call."

"We didn't," Yang corrected, feeling the hate that slipped into her voice. "Schnee, did!"

"As in Weiss Schnee?" Coco asked her eyebrows raised. "I'd really like to hear how you ended up in a club with the heiress to the _'Schnee Mining and Distribution'_ _…_ "

"Yang you can't be seriously thinking that…" Ruby began, but at this point the blonde was beyond listening.

"Why else Rubs?" Yang asked. "Why the hell else would the police be after Ren?"

"Well…" Ruby started uncertainly. "Maybe they made a mistake?"

"Yes!" Yang replied. "They listened to Schnee!" With that Yang turned around.

"Yang we were there, when she made the call!" Ruby protested.

"And we have no idea if she didn't call them again later!" the blonde pointed out and walked pass her sister.

"Then you should ask her," Blake's voice joined the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked. "Ask her? I plan to beat…"

"You don't want to be making an enemy out of the Schnee family," the girl cut her off. "And going in accusing their heir of something like this is exactly how you'd do that!"

"New girl's got a point!" Coco nodded. "Go and talk to Schnee if you want Yang, but don't antagonize them… More than you've already have."

"Fine!" the blonde finally relented. "Can you at least give us a ride there?" she asked Coco.

"I'll hail you a cab and then I'll see about getting Nora back to her place," the older girl countered and pulled out her scroll.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The girl's trip to the Schnee estate was silent for the most part, only Ruby trying to pick up a conversation with either Yang or Blake, but neither was obliging much. Yang herself didn't want to lose her focus. As for Blake… To Yang she appeared to be deep in thought.

In fact Yang was a bit curious as to why Blake was with them.

She didn't know Ren, as far as Yang knew, nor did she know Schnee. Hell the girl had been unconscious when they found the body. Her tagging along was a bit peculiar.

Then again it wasn't something overly suspicious. After all Yang and Ruby did offer her a place to stay for the night and providing some moral support might have been her way to repay them.

"We're here ladies," the cab driver called and stopped in front of the gates leading to the Schnee estate.

"Thanks!" Yang called and handed the man their fare.

"So," Ruby began her eyes widening at the size of the gate. "How exactly do we get in?"

"We ring the doorbell, I suppose," Yang shrugged and pushed the button on the intercom system.

" _Schnee Family Estate,_ " a male voice greeted them. " _How may I be of assistance?_ "

"Um,…" Yang blenched at the voice. Truth be told she didn't expect there to be anyone actually waiting on the other side of the system. In fact she was hoping it was just automated to let them in.

She also seriously doubted that 'Here to shake down the daughter of one of the wealthiest people in Remnant' was a good reason to let them in.

Raking her brain for a few moments the brawler finally came up with a reasonable excuse.

"We're friends of Weiss' from School," Yang lied. "We had plans to meet up today."

" _Right… And I am headmistress of Beacon Academy!_ " the man replied. " _Now listen here…._ "

All of a sudden there was the sound of a struggle from the other side of the intercom, causing Yang to take a step back, before a new voice greeted the three.

" _I apologize for that!_ " the voice, female this time, said. " _Please come in!_ "

Yang looked dumb folded at what had just transpired as the doors opened automatically letting the three in.

"That was… peculiar…" Yang admitted. "Shall we?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In retrospect, Yang should have held the cab until they actually reached the house would have been a great idea, since the hike uphill took them a good 15 minutes. What was even more annoying and felt like the architect was laughing at them was that it would have been easier to come from the other side, since the house was practically kissing the wall.

Still, in her opinion it could have been worse.

As the trio finally reached the front doors of the manor, they found that someone was actually waiting for them.

The woman appeared to be in her thirties to Yang, with short pixie cut dark hair and it was obvious she had just rose from bed, given that she was wearing a rather decorated, emerald green robe.

"Good morning!" she greeted with a sunny smile that caught Yang a bit off guard. In all her visions, she pictured everyone and everything living in Schnee manor to be unwelcoming, monotonic and stuck up, but this woman was… Normal! If not for the huge decorative snowflake logo of the Schnee Mining Company, Yang would have been questioning if the cabby hadn't dropped them off at the wrong place.

"Um, good morning miss…" Yang fished for a name.

"Oh, no titles!" the woman waved dismissively. "I'm Willow. Weiss' mom. Are you Weiss' friends from school?"

"Hehe," Yang chuckled nervously. _Great! Had to run into her mother of all people! Though she does appear nice…_

"Yeah, we are!" Ruby helped Yang out cheerfully. "We swung by because we had a question about the club we were in last night…" Yang heard her sister trail off and a glance at Weiss' mother clarified why.

While the older woman was still smiling, her smile had gained a sharp edge to it that was a bit frightening.

"I'm sorry," Willow Schnee blinked at the girls. "But my daughter was _where_ last night?"

"In a bar," Yang supplied, though she started to feel unnerved by the older woman's smile.

"I see," Mrs. Schnee nodded and without any warning turned with enough force to make her robes crack like a whip. "WEISS SCHNEE, GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED AND DOWNSTAIRS THIS INSTANCE!"

At the unexpected outburst, Yang saw that Blake took a step back, Ruby doing one better and hiding completely behind Yang, so fast, the blonde could swear her sister teleported.

"Yang," the younger girl whispered. "That lady is scary."

"Relax Ruby," Yang assured her sister, though much to her embarrassment, her own legs were shaking a bit.

"Maybe we should,…" Blake began, but before she could finish, Weiss' mother turned back toward the three.

"You three! Inside! Now!" she said in a tone that brokered no argument.

'Yes ma'am!" all three answered in perfect unison.

 _Next time I am going home after a boxing match!_ Yang promised herself miserably as she followed Weiss' mother into the house.

 _ **Schnee Manor, Living Room**_

"Now," Willow Schnee began as the girls, Weiss still in her robe and nightgown, "Who'd like to start explaining?"

Blake glanced around at the expression of the other three girls, which quickly confirmed that none of them were feeling particularly chatty. Yang and Ruby simply looked unnerved by Willow's expression, while Weiss herself appeared as if she'd seen a ghost.

Being a former member of the White Fang, Blake found the normality of the situation to be… amusing.

The image the White Fang held for the Schnee family was that of cold aristocracy and ruthless businessmen that trampled on anyone who they deemed beneath them.

Seeing the future heiress of the family being sweated like a normal teen who got caught for sneaking out was probably entertainment many people would pay for.

 _It's a shame I had to ditch my scroll,_ Blake mused as it dawned on her exactly where she was.

The hearth of the Schnee Mining Company and she just walked right into it with no problems and no hustle whatsoever.

A place where she could strike the killing blow against one of the greatest oppressors to Faunus all over Remnant.

Blake had a hard time believing this was true. After yesterday it actually seemed like a dream come true for her.

But it wasn't… Not anymore.

She was no longer with the White Fang and it no longer stood for what she believed it to stand for. This wasn't a dream, it was just Fate taunting her.

After all, she no longer had a dream, no longer had any goals besides survive the next day and the one after that.

"Well," Willow's words drew Blake out of her thoughts. "Since no one wants to start… You three!" she turned toward the girls. "Are you actually friends of Weiss? Yes or no?"

"Well," Yang began sheepishly. "Me and my sis know her from school, but saying we're friends would be…"

"A lie," Ruby supplied miserably as both girls appeared to wither under Mrs. Schnee's gaze.

"At least you're being honest about it," Willow muttered and turned toward Blake. "And you miss?"

"I just tagged along," Blake admitted. "Yang and Ruby gave me a place to stay and I came to offer some support as gratitude."

As a skilled liar Blake knew that the best lie was one with a grain of truth in it. She did feel grateful to the two sisters for giving her a place to stay the night, even if she was going to disappear in the next few days.

The lie however came from the fact that it wasn't her only reason for being there.

When she first heard about the murder, she recalled a conversation she overheard Adam have a few days before she was forced to run. Something about a murder that was paramount for the White Fang. While it was a long shot that this was the murder, the presence of a Schnee, even if it was by accident, was too much to overlook. And it might just give her the bargaining chip she needed to get the White Fang to leave her alone for the time being.

"Hm," the older woman nodded. "In that case… Weiss. Why did you sneak out last night?"

Blake was sure that anyone in the room could hear a fly buzzing around in the silence that followed the woman's question.

"Because,…" Weiss began, her voice barely beyond a whisper. "I wanted to, I guess…"

As she uttered the words, Blake could feel an understanding pass between the two women, something only they realized out of the conversation.

"I see," Willow nodded slowly. "I'm just glad your father is out on work for the week." Weiss' mother sighed. "But that does lead me to my next question. Why did you three come here?"

"Well," Yang began. "It sort of happened after we left,…"

"You mean had to run out of," Weiss corrected and Blake really started to wonder if the girl was pre-programmed to argue with Yang.

"Fine!" the blonde conceded. "After we _ran out_ of the club we stopped at an alley where we,… Um,… Found a dead body."

The reaction the words brought was instantaneous and one that Blake had seen many a time from people not accustomed to seeing death on a daily bases: shock, fear and near panic.

"I assume," Mrs. Schnee began, regaining her composure, though Blake noted that her face seemed paler than before. "You informed the police, I take it?"

"Yeah, Weiss did!" Ruby supplied.

"Yes and now a friend of ours has been arrested for the murder," Yang continued. "We wanted to inte… ask if Weiss had said anything after her initial call."

"And why," the white-haired girl began, anger clear in her voice. "Would I frame someone I don't even know?"

"Because you're a selfish…" Yang began to respond, but a quick, stern look from Mrs. Schnee silenced her quickly.

"And who is this friend of yours?" Mrs. Schnee asked.

"Lie Ren," Ruby answered. "His folks used to own a small herb shop and…"

"Oh I know the place," Willow brightened up instantly. "It has a wonderful selection of tea and many herbs I like to grow. And I also know the young man you're referring to. Very cordial and polite. Lives alone as far as I am aware, correct?"

"Legally emancipated a few months ago after his parents died," Yang confirmed ad Blake saw a shadow pass through the blonde's face. "Didn't want to deal with the system so close to 18."

"I find it hard to believe he'd ever kill someone."

"That just it," Yang interrupted. "He wouldn't. Ren couldn't hurt a fly!"

"If he's a friend of yours, I find that difficult to be…"

"Weiss enough!" her mother silenced her. "I believe you're forgetting that you're in quite a bit of trouble and in no position to judge anyone!"

The Schnee heiress withered at her mother's words, causing Blake to fight a very evil smirk off her face.

"This arguing isn't getting us anywhere," Willow sighed, leaning back in her chair. "So! Here's what will happen! You three will go and talk to your friend. It might help you a bit to calm down. And Weiss is coming with you!"

"I'm what?!" Weiss shrieked.

"She's what?!" Yang asked at the exact same moment and both girls shot each other a glare, before shutting up.

"I don't want any complaints from you Weiss! Fact is you should be happy I don't just call your Father!" Willow chastised her daughter and then turned to Yang. "Nor do I want to hear any rebukes from you Miss Xiao Long! I am sending my daughter with you to maybe get you to ease off a little on her. She and by extension my family isn't the reason for all the evil in the world."

Blake blinked at the statement in utter confusion. Either this woman was just this blind to what was happening in Remnant, or she had convinced herself that it wasn't true. It was… Sad.

"In the meantime," Mrs. Schnee continued. "Would you girls like breakfast?" she finished, her sunny smile returning to her face as if she hadn't just chewed out and ordered them around just moment before.

 _I concur with Ruby,_ Blake thought. _This woman can be scary!_

 _ **Vale Police Department, Holding Area**_

Weiss couldn't believe her Mother!

While there was the fact that the heiress was grateful that her Father wasn't made aware of the situation, being forced to go around with these girls, two of which she didn't even know and one she hated, was just too much.

And then her Mother actually invited them to breakfast!

After witnessing that Xiao Long was just as much a barbarian as Weiss always imagined her to be, the white haired teen was now sitting around a visitor's table at the Police Department, waiting for this Lie Ren to be brought in so the other three could talk to him.

Weiss herself had no idea what they were hoping to learn from all this. After all the VPD would have done their job and therefor the boy must have been responsible for the crime.

But even so, there was a treacherous voice in the back of her head that questioned that. After all she knew that her Father was operating in a… Moral gray area at best. Obviously the police weren't infallible. Though why would this be the case for something so… Small.

From what Weiss understood, the person they were here to see, owned a herb store… No, he didn't even own it, his parents owned it and he inherited it not a few months ago. Who would go out of their way to frame him? It wasn't feasible and it wasn't logical.

Weiss' musings were interrupted, when the door to the holding area opened and a guard walked into the room with another person, wearing a gray inmate jumpsuit.

Weiss' first impression of the teen was not something particularly striking. He was taller than her, but not by much, with black hair, which appeared to be tied at the back. It also had a magenta streak on its left side, which was a perfect match for his eyes.

The man's entire demeanor appeared calm, despite the situation. Weiss would assume he'd at least appear _anxious_ about being thrown in jail.

"You've got five minutes," the guard announced and left the five of them in the room.

"Hey… Everyone," the boy greeted after spotting Weiss and Blake.

"Ren!" Xiao Long called out and quickly enveloped the poor man in what appeared to be a strong hug, if Ren's expression was any indicator.

"Good to see you too Yang," Ren greeted back. "What brings you here?"

"What brings us here? Ren you're in jail for Remnant's sake! What kind of friends would we be if we didn't come?" the blonde asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That explains you and Ruby, but who are those two," he motioned toward Weiss and Blake.

"Oh, this is Blake," Xiao Long pointed at the black haired girl. "I sort of met her last night. And over there's the Ice Queen." The larger girl added with a sigh. "She sicked the police on you."

Weiss bristled at the other girl's words, completely overtaken by the desire to strangle the blonde boxer.

"I did not 'sick', the police on anyone!" the heiress managed to hiss through gritted teeth. "I reported a murder. The police arrested your friend!"

Despite the situation Weiss noticed that there was a twinkle of amusement in Yang's lilac eyes as she was obviously enjoying teasing Weiss.

"Before this can escalate," Blake spoke up, drawing Weiss' attention away from her irritations with Xiao Long. "Do you mind telling us what happened Ren? Your friend,… Nora… wasn't exactly in a position to explain much."

 _That's sugarcoating it,_ Weiss thought, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'm not really sure what to tell you," Ren admitted. "I woke up this morning and everything was normal. Then about 10 minutes after we opened the police came in with a warrant for my arrest."

"What evidence did they have?" Weiss asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, causing her to nearly bite her tongue.

Her entire plan relied on just being there, appear completely uninterested and then leave, once this little visit was over. After all her mother told her to accompany Xiao Long and her group only for the trip to the department and nothing else.

But she would have been a liar if she claimed she wasn't even a bit interested. Ren appeared… Normal and completely out o0f place in Xiao Long's circle of friends. She might have actually bought the whole 'couldn't hurt a fly' thing by looking at him. He wasn't lying as far as she could tell. As much as she loathed the life her Father was trying to force on her, all the time she spent learning how to talk to business men she did learn one very important thing: how to tell if someone is lying to her.

And Lie Ren wasn't.

"Well," Ren began with a sigh. "I didn't understand much, but what I did manage was that apparently my fingerprints were on the scene of the crime and that the last phone number on Tukson's scroll was mine.

"And did you actually call this… Tukson?" Blake asked.

"Well,… yes," Ren admitted. "I order books from him all the time. I was checking to see if he had a copy of a book on herbs that I was interested in."

"Did you actually meet?" Blake inquired.

"Not really," Ren shrugged. "He said he had a different meeting last night so we re-scheduled."

"This is pointless," Weiss sighed, earning her a glare from Yang, but the white haired girl explained before Xiao Long could protest. "Tukson was shot. You don't own a gun right?"

"I… Do… Technically," Ren answered and Weiss followed his gaze toward Ruby as the younger girl suddenly became very interested in the floor.

"Ruby,…." Yang drawled out. "Something to share?"

"Well," the younger girl began quietly. "I sort of gave Ren a pair of stylized submachine guns for his birthday last year."

"Functioning?" Yang asked, but her tone suggested to Weiss she already knew the answer.

"Pff!" Ruby scoffed. "Of course! Why would I give someone non-functioning guns?"

For a few moments after the statement, utter silence reigned in the small room, until the sound of Weiss facepalming reverberated throughout, startling everyone.

"We really need to talk about your gifting habits Rubs," Yang reprimanded her sister.

"Your dunce of a sister is gifting lethal weapons to people!" Weiss protested, already at the end of her rope. "There is nothing to talk about, she's the one that should be locked up!"

"I'm going to get locked up for killing you pretty soon Schnee!" Yang threatened, but before either girl could continue on, Ren cleared his throat.

"Look," Ren began calmly. "I never actually used those things. They are placed on a plaque in my room. I haven't even cleaned the mechanisms since I got them."

Weiss noted that the raven-haired Blake had gotten even quieter than normal, a thoughtful expression on her face. As she opened her mouth to speak however, the guard entered.

"Time's up!" he called. "Feel free to stop by tomorrow if you wish." He offered the girls, a slight apologetic smile on his lips.

 _ **Outside of the VPD Precinct**_

"Well," Yang spoke up for the first time since they left the room. "That could have been better."

"Yeah" her sister sighed in defeat and Weiss' mask almost slipped at the younger girl's dejected expression.

Almost.

"Well," the heiress shrugged. "While this has been fun, I do have other things to do. Goodbye!"

With that Weiss turned around, determined to ignore the looks the other three were probably giving her. Before the heiress could take two steps however, Ruby shouted after her.

"Wait, Weiss!" the younger girl called out and seemed to almost materialize in front of her.

"What?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at the younger girl, who appeared to look uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Aren't you going to stick around?" the brunette asked a hopeful tone in her voice.

"No," Weiss answered curtly and Ruby seemed to deflate at the answer. "This has nothing to do with me. I came along this far just because my Mother made me. Nothing more, nothing less. Now move aside!" the heiress ordered and moved to go around Ruby's little human blockade when a voice caught her attention.

"So you're not interested in what I was going to ask?" the girl asked, stopping Weiss in her tracks.

Because she was interested. Blake as she had introduced herself appeared to be calm, collected and rational given what little time Weiss observed her. Every time she spoke it was with a specific reason. It was in fact a startling resemblance to Weiss' Father of all people. Never a wasted word if it could be helped. That's what got Weiss interested in what the girl's query would be; because it probably had some meaning.

"Okay, I'll bite!" the white haired heiress turned around, trying to appear as disinterested as she could. "What brilliant question did you have?"

"Why wasn't Tukson's other meeting investigated?"

The question actually managed to catch Weiss off-guard and she considered it. If Ren was telling the truth, for which she had very little doubt, there was no reason that he should be the only one detained…. Unless…

"You think that someone tampered with the scroll?"

"You mean there's a way to prove Ren's innocent?" Yang jumped to her feet.

"Maybe," the raven haired girl shrugged. "If we can find where this Tukson person worked."

"You say that like its hard!" Ruby asked pulling out her scroll. "Do you spell 'Tukson' with a 'C' or a 'K'?" the girl asked after a moment of consideration.

 _ **Tukson's Book Trade**_

After learning how to spell 'Tukson' correctly (And earning a bump on the head courtesy of Weiss.) Ruby and the others ended up in front of a neat looking bookstore. The lights were off, but from what Ruby could make out inside, the place was filled with books and not just on the shelves. A great deal of the shop's inventory was apparently in boxes and stacks on the floor.

"So," Yang spoke up, drawing Ruby's attention away from the window. "How do we get in?"

"Anyone got a hairpin?" Blake asked, examining the lock.

"You're not suggesting we break in, do you?" Weiss asked exasperated.

Ruby cast the white-haired girl a curious glance.

Ruby wasn't the best when it came to socializing and understanding people, she couldn't deny that.

But it puzzled Ruby why the girl was this cold. Sure their first meeting hadn't exactly gone smoothly and being forced into this situation was obviously not doing her any favors, but for the most part Ruby had no idea why she acted like that. After all, after they cleared up the initial misunderstanding at the club, Weiss didn't seem all that cold and unreachable.

Right now however she was just as Yang had described her so many times; cold-hearted, with an air of superiority around her. Ruby would be the first to admit it was intimidating, but also… forced, like she didn't actually want it to be there.

Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, Ruby focused back on the situation at hand. After all, she could have just been imagining the entire thing and right now Ren being in trouble was more important than anything else.

"Look, we came all this way," Yang reasoned. "Let's at least take a look. What's the worst that could happen?"

"You didn't just ask that," Weiss sighed.

"That's just superstition," Blake waved the two off and turned toward Ruby. "Do you have a hairpin?"

"No," Ruby admitted and started rummaging through her pack. "But I do have a gun cleaning kit." She declared pulling the aforementioned article from her pack.

"Why do you have that on you?" Weiss asked taken aback by the information.

"Oh, this is the bag I normally carry for the gun range." Ruby explained. "There are a lot of things in here.

"It will do nicely," Blake examined the content a smiled ever so slightly. "Thank you Ruby."

With that the raven haired teen turned toward the door, Yang hovering over her head, leaving Ruby and Weiss standing a few feet back, simply watching silently.

The silence was reaching an uncomfortable level, when Weiss broke it.

"So, um,... You were serious about the weapon design thing, huh?"

Ruby knew that the girl was just talking for the sake of talking, but nodded never the less.

"And how exactly did you get started?"

Ruby looked over the heiress trying to determine if she was actually interested or just trying to sting her along to mock her.

Before giving voice to that thought however a clicking sound came from the direction of the shop door and Ruby saw just as Blake pushed it inward.

"After you," she gestured with a flourish.

"That was… Fast." Weiss stated as she walked into the store.

"How did you get it so quickly?" Ruby asked in awe as she retrieved her case. "I tried to break into Yang's room once and I spent like 3 hours before finally opening the door."

"It takes some practice," the older girl replied. "Maybe I'll show you,… Someday." She added as an afterthought, a dark shadow passing through her features, but Ruby attributed it to the change in the light.

"Anyone got a clue where we should begin?" Yang asked, hitting the light switch, revealing that what Ruby saw through the window was pretty much what they got; a great deal of books scattered throughout the entire establishment. Floor, shelves, counter, there were even books on most of the chairs Ruby could see.

"This is a shop for books, maybe he kept a record somewhere," Blake reasoned moving behind the counter.

"In this day and age?" Ruby frowned. "It's probably more likely it was on his scroll."

"What do you see around us?" Blake asked.

"Um,… Books?" Yang guessed. "This place is positively _booked_."

Ruby saw that Blake's hands slowly closed and opened at the pun and she herself had to suppress a giggle.

"Enough puns Xiao Long," Weiss chastised, clearly not enjoying the situation. "What's you point?" the heiress turned to Blake.

"Tukson obviously put a lot of effort into this collection," the black-haired girl mused. "Nobody who would spend so much time collecting books would risk them on the slim chance of dropping a scroll."

Ruby glanced around the place again and had to allow that Blake might have had a point.

"Okay Miss Expert," Weiss challenged. "Where would such a ledger be?"

"Right here?" Yang asked holding up a book from the counter which read 'Tukson's Ledger' on the cover.

Ruby quickly dashed behind her sister as the blonde opened the book, searching for the last written pages. Soon after Weiss joined the trio as they all started looking through the orders.

"What the hell's a 'cat's cradle'?" Ruby heard Yang ask.

"A game you play with strings," Blake responded looking at the same spot of the ledger Yang was.

"B-o-ring!" the blonde declared. "Who orders stuff like this?"

"It's not boring," Blake protested. "It's actually quite challenging to master. And to answer your question, apparently a 'Miss C.' ordered it."

"Oh, this must be Ren's order!" Ruby pointed excitedly at a notation about " _Herbs of Vacuo and how to use them properly_ '.

"If he was telling the truth," Weiss began earning her a lilac glare from Yang. "Then the next order should be our mystery meeting."

"The next order is ' _The Third Crusade_ '…" Blake trailed off.

"I've never heard of that bo…" Weiss began, but her words were cut short by a crash coming from the front of the store and Ruby managed to see, for a split second, a clear liquid bottle, with a lit rag at the throat, before it shattered, it's content spilling on the floor and catching fire.

Before any of the girls could react, three more bottles followed the first one, lighting the entire front of the store on fire, completely cutting off the girl's escape route.

"Okay," Yang gulped as the flames began to spread more and more, slowly crawling toward them, causing the temperature in the room to rise. "This is bad."

Ruby watched as the flames started to creep closer, smoke already obscuring the ceiling of the shop completely. As the red hot tongues of the fire drew closer, Ruby could start feeling a sense of dread building up inside her, slowly paralyzing her body, her breathing becoming incredibly shallow.

As the girl struggled to move her feet, she felt a hand tug her shoulders and turned around to see Yang pulling her back.

"We need to move!" her sister ordered, snapping Ruby out of her stupor and the four girls quickly moved into the back room of the store, Blake quickly closing the door behind them.

"I cannot believe you people dragged me into this!" Weiss screamed as soon as the sound of something collapsing was heard from the other side of the door.

"Oh come on it isn't that bad!" Ruby shrugged, trying to calm down the older teen. After all, panic wasn't really constructive, though she was inches from it herself. Remnant, who was she kidding, she was already panicking!

"No we're just trapped in a burning building!" Weiss pointed out "With no way out."

Ruby looked around and noted that unfortunately, the girl had a point. The room was fairly small, used as a storage area, by the looks of the unpacked boxes. The only two doors in the room were the one that they just came through, which by the sound of it and the bellows of smoke coming through the cracks, was now blocked by the flames and a heavy duty metal door that maybe led toward the street.

"Anyone got a key by any chance?" Yang asked as she examined the keyhole.

Ruby knew that tone. It was the exact same tone her sister had whenever she managed to force her to go to a hair salon to cut her hair; upbeat, but clearly terrified.

Not wanting to give completely into panic, Ruby started examining the door and her eyes quickly fell onto the large keyhole.

"I don't," the brunette admitted. "But I might just have an idea…"


	5. Chapter 5

_Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 5_

 _ **Tukson's Book Trade (currently on fire)**_

She knew she had very little time as the smoke from the fire started to creep in from under the door, but even so Ruby couldn't rush this.

After all, slight smoke inhalation was preferable to having a hand blown off.

Though with the amount of time this was going to take it definitely wasn't going to be 'a little' and Ruby quickly scanned the room; it was a storage room of some sort and if the amount of boxes were any indication, should have exactly what she needed. The girl's silver eyes flickered up and down the shelves until she saw what she was looking for.

"Yang," she turned to her sister. "Grab that roll of tape and start sealing the door!"

"Who placed you in charge?" Weiss protested.

"Because I'm the one with the plan!" Ruby protested as Yang moved to do as she was told. "You two," she turned to Weiss and Blake properly. "I need some paper and a wire! Now!"

What surprised Ruby the most out of the whole thing was that the two older teens actually listened to her and started doing what she ordered, quickly rummaging through drawlers and cabinets to find the supplies she needed.

 _Right,_ Ruby thought to herself and opened her pack. _My turn!_

The brunette pulled out a container of gunpowder from her pack, silently thanking her luck for not taking another backpack on this little trip. After all, none of her other packs were the ones she prepped for the gun range.

Quickly placing the powder next to the metal door, Ruby quickly pulled out a pair of pliers along with a taser Yang got her for her birthday and a small pocket knife.

Just as the preparations for her little escape attempt were ready, Blake and Weiss handed her the materials she requested.

As Ruby quickly tore out a page of the magazine she was provided with, she noticed that the air was getting harder to breathe. Cursing to herself as to not waste any oxygen, Ruby opened her pocket knife and made a cone with the magazine page.

Eyeballing the correct width of the keyhole she took off the tip of the cone and jammed it into the lock, careful not to break the funnel.

Ignoring the mounting heat of the fire, Ruby unscrewed the cap of the powder canister and dumped most of the content into the funnel, filling up the keyhole until the powder started to seep out.

Discarding the now mostly empty container aside, Ruby took the wire Blake gave her and quickly started to strip off the plastic coating using the pair of pliers she dug out of her pack. Once the copper was exposed on both ends of the cable, Ruby carefully stuck one end of it into the piled on gunpowder.

"Ruby, are you sure this will work?" Yang asked and Ruby noticed that while she was preparing her (hopefully successful) door opening system, the fire had started working on the door itself, threatening to quickly spill into the small room where the girls were.

"I've got no idea!" the younger sister admitted as she touched the exposed end of the wire with the active stun gun. That was when she started praying.

The theory behind this idea was sound for the most part. The gunpowder in the lock was military grade, so it shouldn't have had any trouble blasting the locking mechanism of the door to shreds, _if_ she could get it to ignite before they suffocated due to the fire.

The real snag of the plan however was the exit itself. Ruby was really hoping that the fire wouldn't spread this fast or that she could work a bit faster. Because right now, with the way the fire was spreading, the moment she opened the door to let them out, the backdraft that would occur from the introduction of air would probably incinerate them alive within seconds.

 _Seconds are a long time,_ Ruby thought to herself in a vain attempt to calm down her nerves. Even while she thought that though, her hand drifted toward the door handle. Once the lock blew open, she'd have to hold it closed, until they could run out in an instant.

The precious moments ticked by before Ruby finally saw smoke rise from the keyhole and a few seconds later, there was a loud explosion, accompanied by a brief flash of fire from the lock.

Even though the mini explosion startled her, Ruby quickly gripped the door handle to prevent it from opening before they could dive out.

"Everyone ready?" Ruby asked, even though her breathing was becoming more labored from the smoke.

"Just go!" Weiss snapped.

Ruby immediately complied and all four of them almost literally tumbled out of the shop and into the back alley, but fortunately for them, Ruby's fears about a giant fireball following them were unfounded.

"Okay," Yang managed to get out through a fit of coughing. "That was a thing!"

"A _thing_?" Weiss asked as she picked herself off the ground, her white clothes covered in sooth and dirt. "You call nearly being burned alive a _thing_?!" the heiress shrieked, her voice carrying above the fire truck alarms. "We nearly _died_ you idiot! Does that even register in that alleged brain of yours?!"

Ruby couldn't help but crawl a little bit away from Weiss at her outburst, quietly wondering if being scary was part of the Schnee genes.

"Look Schnee," Yang countered. "I know what happened! I know that we nearly died!" the blonde continued and Ruby saw her sister's eyes darkening at the word. "So stop pretending to be better than me! In fact, weren't you going to be leaving us?"

That appeared to strike a nerve, almost literally, as Ruby saw a vein pulse on Weiss' forehead.

"You know what?" the white haired teen replied, her voice trembling with rage. "That's precisely what I'm going to do!"

Turning almost on a dime, Weiss stalked toward the other end of the alley and quickly rejoined the crowds of people that Ruby noticed were gathered in front of the burning building.

"Woohoo!" Yang cheered as Weiss disappeared from view. "Finally!"

Ruby wished she could share in Yang's enthusiasm at seeing Weiss gone, but she couldn't. As silly as it sounded, Weiss was realistically the first friend Ruby made, or at least thought she made, in a very long time. Seeing her go was… A bit depressing.

"What now?" Blake asked, returning both Ruby and Yang to reality. "We lost the ledger and probably the only clue we had."

 _The ledger…._ Ruby thought and immediately turned toward the door, where she could see the fire eating away at everything it touched, the precious book probably long since gone.

"Let's get back home for starters and take a shower," Yang suggested. "We reek like smoke, the police are bound to arrive soon and it's nearing lunch time anyway."

Ruby took an experimental sniff at her hoodie and quickly recoiled from the familiar smell of burned materials.

"A shower sounds nice," she smiled sheepishly and the three started toward the street.

"That still doesn't explain how we can find another lead," Blake pointed out as Yang hailed a cab.

"Well, I do have an idea…" Yang mused and Ruby's stomach dropped as she saw the twinkle in Yang's eyes.

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Residence**_

"No!" Ruby shouted as soon as Yang finished her proposition, bits of the younger girl's lunch flying everywhere. "Yang, you can't go back there! Not after what you did last time!"

"It wasn't all that bad," the blonde defended herself, pointing her sandwich accusingly at Ruby. "There was just a slight… misunderstanding."

"Why do I get the feeling there is a story behind your last visit to this club?" Blake asked calmly as she took a bite out of her tuna.

"Because there is!" Ruby confirmed. "Last time she went to Junior's club, she started a brawl, punched out Junior's girlfriend and… squished some things." The brunette ended and felt a slight touch of heat on her face.

"While I would like to believe that's an exaggeration," Blake sighed. "I do think I can believe it, given how we met last night."

"Look you two," Yang threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "We don't exactly have a choice in the matter! Junior might be a sexist asshole, but he knows everything that goes on in Vale and much of the outlying areas. If someone knows who murdered Tukson, he would, or he'd know who knows."

Ruby hated this plan. She mostly hated that Yang was right and they didn't have another plan to use, making this by default the best idea… Which in on itself was scary. Even so…

"Yang, over half the patrons there hate you!" Ruby continued. "Who do you think keeps betting against you during your matches?"

"I always thought those are just people who like to lose," Yang replied with a cocky smile.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Ruby rested her head on the table.

"Relax, Rubs," Yang patted her back. "I'll take Blake with me and we'll be back in an hour or so."

"I'm coming too!" Ruby protested and tried to get up, but Yang pushed her back into the chair.

"Nope, not this time!" the blonde shook her head. "I ain't taking you to Junior's bar and that's final."

Knowing that it was impossible to argue with her sister when she got protective, Ruby just slumped back in her seat further.

"Just promise me you'll be careful,"

"When aren't I?" Yang asked fainting shock, only for Ruby to level her best glare at her older sister.

"Don't worry," Blake replied smiling. "I'll keep her out of trouble."

"Yeah," Yang chuckled. "We don't have the cash to pay for such a full time job."

With that little joke, Yang and Blake left, leaving Ruby alone, with nothing to do.

"Guess, I'll just wait for them to come back," Ruby thought resigned and returned to picking through her lunch.

Before she could take more than two bites however someone knocked on the door and the teen had to resist the urge to roll her silver eyes.

"Yang, did you forget your keys again?"

 _ **Streets of Vale**_

Weiss loved the fact that if she was angry enough, people consciously moved out of her way as to not draw her attention. It worked in Schnee manor, it worked in school and it definitely appeared to be working on the streets of Vale as most pedestrians steered clear of the girl.

Each and every step Weiss made was punctuated in her thoughts with a curse thrown at the direction of the three girls that nearly killed her.

Worst of the three however was Xiao Long and her utter glee at the fact that she forced Weiss to leave. The blonde oaf probably thought Weiss couldn't hear her cheer of joy at the heiress' departure.

The most infuriating part about it was that it actually hurt her.

Due to who she was, Weiss never really had friends. She had… 'associates' and 'acquaintances', never 'friends'. So to hear Yang being so cheerful at the fact she was never going to see her again just…

 _Enough!_ Weiss snapped to herself. She wasn't going to pity herself. She wasn't some naïve child not to realize that those people weren't her friends and she wasn't going to waste her time and thoughts on them. Right now she was just going to get back home and pretend this whole morning never happene…

"Uff!" Weiss huffed as she slammed into something that sent her falling to the ground.

 _The problem with not looking where you're going, I guess,_ she reasoned to herself and started to pick herself up.

"Are you alright Miss?" the man asked leaning forward.

Weiss glanced up at the man. He was wearing a green business suit, which to her appeared slightly out of place, given that she'd grown up surrounded by black. In the man's hand was a cane, with an elaborate silver handle, complete with a cross guard. Weiss' gaze moved upwards and was met with a pair of thin brown eyes, hidden behind dark-green spectacles. The man's hair was white, but unlike Weiss' snow-white locks, his hair was more greyish meaning it was definitely not his natural color.

"And who are you?" Weiss huffed at the stranger, glad for the chance to vent. While it might not have been fair to take out her frustrations on a perfectly innocent stranger, Weiss couldn't exactly go back just to yell at Xiao Long. Not to mention she was sure the blonde disaster area and her friends weren't at the same spot anymore.

"My name is Ozpin," the man introduced himself with a smile. "Commissioner of the Vale Police Department."

"Oh," Weiss replied dumb folded, all her intentions of screaming, completely derailed. After all, she could do a lot of stupid things in a state of anger, but she wasn't stupid enough to start yelling at one of the most important people in Vale over something that was technically her fault.

"And you are Miss?" Ozpin questioned.

"Weiss. Weiss Schnee," Weiss promptly introduced herself, inclining her head slightly.

"Hm," the man inclined his head slightly. "And if I might be so bold, what exactly are you doing here Miss Schnee. Especially in such a… disheveled look?" Ozpin asked, motioning toward her.

For the first time since this morning Weiss actually looked herself over. Her clothes were graying, probably due to the smoke of the fire, her jacket had a ripped socket, probably from the fall onto the alley and Weiss saw several strands of hair dancing in front of her vision which weren't supposed to be there.

"I…. Had an argument… With some people I know," Weiss lied weakly, fully aware that Ozpin was probably seeing straight through her, if the sparkle in his eyes was any indication.

"I see," the man nodded. "Still, I would like to apologize for knocking you over. Mind indulging an old gentleman in an apology?" he smiled.

"I guess," Weiss nodded hesitantly.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Five minutes later Weiss was standing on a table in a small café across Ozpin, who was looking at her over a cup of coffee.

Weiss wasn't exactly sure what the Commissioner wanted. Sure he made the excuse of apologizing, but fact was she was the one at fault for the whole 'crash into you' thing. Not to mention the simple fact that someone of Ozpin's position probably didn't have time for a casual sit down at a café. If her Father had taught her one thing is that people of high societal positions rarely just sat down for something.

And it would never be something as trivial as bumping into someone.

"You have a question, Miss Schnee?" Ozpin asked, putting down his coffee mug.

"It's nothing Commissioner," Weiss lied, but realized how futile it must be to lie to such a man. The teen fished for a few moments, to find the right words to voice her question, before speaking up. "Why did you invite me here Commissioner? I am almost certain you have better things to do."

"I did," the man answered. "For about half an hour. Then my lead went up in smoke." He added with a smile, looking pointedly at Weiss.

 _Oh, Remnant!_ The white-haired girl sighed inwardly.

"You know?"

"Not until right now," Ozpin smiled sympathetically. "I suspected. After all, I hardly expect there to be another fire near _Tukson's Book Trade_ , much less meet someone who just happens to be part of that conveniently coincidental second fire."

"Can this day get any worse?" Weiss asked, slumping back in her chair.

"Depends on what you'll tell me Miss Schnee," Ozpin explained calmly. "What exactly were you doing at _Tukson's Book Trade_?"

Weiss weighed her options, not that there were much to talk about. One was that she refused to tell Ozpin anything and ended up in a holding cell, much like Lie Ren, until this whole thing cleared up and the other…

"I was… Last night I met some people who seem to believe the boy you have in connection to Tukson's murder is innocent," Weiss explained, shortening the story for the sake of getting to the point. "I followed them until the book store, where the fire took place."

"I see," Ozpin nodded. "And where are these… Friends of yours, now?"

"They aren't my friends!" Weiss snapped. "My Mother forced me to tag along with them, nothing more, nothing less. And I don't know, to answer your question. Sir." The teen added, as soon as she realized her tone.

"Interesting," the older man nodded. "And did you find anything that might prove Mr. Lie's innocence?"

"Maybe," Weiss admitted. "Tukson had another appointment besides Lie Ren. Something about a book called _Third Crusade_."

As she uttered the name, Weiss saw a change in Ozpin's stance. It wasn't anything noticeable, but he seemed to go rigid for a moment, his cup stopping midway toward his mouth. The entire thing lasted only a second or so, before the Commissioner seemed to return to normal.

"I see," Ozpin muttered. "And do you have any proof of that?"

"No," Weiss lied. "The only proof we had was burned with the fire."

"Shame," Ozpin muttered. "While I am sure that mister Lie's innocence will be proved, I was hoping to shorten the process. Now if you'd excuse me."

With that the Commissioner simply rose from his chair and headed toward the door, leaving Weiss alone to think.

The white haired teen was almost sure that Ozpin saw through her lie. Fact was that there was a way to prove Lie Ren's innocence, but it wasn't exactly one she was looking forward to exploit. At the very least it wasn't what might be considered hard evidence. After all she didn't lie about the fact that the original ledger was probably destroyed in the fire.

But that wasn't before Weiss managed to take a look at it. And that meant she memorized it.

 _Sometimes having an eidetic memory can be really troublesome,_ Weiss sighed.

Ever since she was discovered to have such a memory, she always thought of it as a double-edged blade. True that she could recall absolutely everything she ever read or heard, or even saw in passing, making most of her school work and even with most of the 'jobs' her Father gave her in connection to the _Schnee Mining Company_ laughably easy at times, it also meant that there was a great deal of things she _couldn't_ forget no matter how much she tried.

And Remnant had she tried so many times.

 _Maybe it's time to do something good with this,_ Weiss reasoned and got up.

She couldn't tell Ozpin, as much as she wanted to. First off she wasn't even sure where he went off to and second it could easily be considered interfering with an active investigation, given that she originally lied about it.

There were however three people just as interested in the information.

 _ **Outside of Club "Black Bear's Den"**_

"Here we are!" Yang announced, accompanied by a wide-sweeping bow as she and Blake stepped out of the taxi.

Ignoring the blonde's dramatic flares Blake studied the building they were in front of; the architecture wasn't anything to stand out from the rest of the street. The only thing that told Blake that there was something special about it was the extra-large double door made out of darkened glass.

"Come on, my contact is inside," Yang motioned and started walking toward the doors and Blake noticed a change in her entire demeanor, with her strides becoming far more confident and with a hint of a sway to them.

To Blake it almost looked like the blonde was… Giddy at the prospect of entering a place where, according to her sister, everyone hated her. The fact did however confirm Blake's suspicions about the girl's nature; a thrill seeker. Blake wouldn't put it pass the blonde to jump of a plane with no parachute if she was bored enough.

Blake had always envied people like those. People who would jump into a fight for the sheer excitement, who would plunge headlong into the dark just to see what's in it.

She envied them, … Because that took bravery.

Taking a deep breath, the black haired girl followed Yang as she neared the club's door.

"No bouncers?" Blake asked as Yang started to push the doors open.

"Only after six," the blonde shrugged. "Club opens around noon, but most people who come at that time don't want trouble. Normally."

"How very reassuring," Blake couldn't resist as the two walked in.

The club was fairly large, even though Blake was sure that she couldn't see a good deal of it even from the elevated position of the entrance. The walls were lined with neon lights, running in sleek lines across the entire length. Large, glass columns flanked the dance floor, tables set up between them. Several raised platforms were on either side of the dance floor, with one a good deal higher than the rest, directly opposed to the entrance. Judging by the equipment there, Blake reasoned that this was probably what was used for a DJ Booth. On the left of the entrance, the wall was taken up completely by a bar, shelves filled with bottles ran the entire length of the bar.

There were already a few patrons around the bar, despite it being only the early afternoon.

"Oh, there's Junior!" Yang pointed toward a man behind the counter and started to walk toward him.

Blake's eyes narrowed at "Junior" as she started evaluating him. One of the first things she learned as a member of the White Fang was to gouge any potential threat as soon as she saw it. And this man's entire demeanor spoke of a threat. He was around seven feet tall, give or take an inch and even in his meticulous dress shirt, vest and pants, he appeared to be built like a freight train.

Blake had very little doubt that if he got his hands on someone, they'd quickly come to regret it.

"Junior!" Yang shouted, even as she and Blake were a good distance away, drawing the attention of every person in the club. As more and more of the patrons and employees turned around to look at the pair, Blake started to feel a mounting sense of malice directed toward them, or more accurately Yang.

Junior also took note of their arrival and turned to one of the other men at the bar, muttering something that Blake couldn't hear or see, before the large man vaulted over the bar.

"Blondie," Junior greeted Yang and stalked toward her. "What in Remnant's Name are you doing here?" he hissed as soon as he was close enough.

"Now, now Junior," Yang smiled sweetly. "Is that any way to treat an old friend?" she asked innocently, but Blake noticed that she kept clenching and unclenching her right hand deliberately.

"We had a deal," the large man protested, though Blake heard a bit of fear in his voice this time. "I don't ban you from here and you don't come for a week after you win a match!"

"I know," Yang nodded. "But I need information. Something only you can get."

"You know the rules Blondie," Junior shook his head. "Information for information."

"How about I just don't tell the Malachite twins you've been sleeping around behind their backs?" Yang asked innocently and Blake actually had to fight the urge to smile at the shock written on Junior's face.

"Fine," he relented. "What do you need?"

"There was a murder last night. A bookstore owner by the name of Tukson," Yang clarified. "Wondering if you know something about it?"

"And here I hoped it was just rumors," Junior growled. "Come to the bar. Don't want to be spooking the patrons. You sure know how to pick your problems Xiao Long!" he muttered as he walked away.

"Okay," Yang whispered to Blake. "Now I am a bit worried."

"Why?" Blake asked. "He agreed didn't he?"

"Yeah, but he normally just spills," Yang shook her head. "None of this 'don't want to disturb' nonsense."

"Must be good then," Blake reasoned and walked toward the bar.

At the bar Blake saw Junior already mixing some sort of drink. As she and yang saw down on a couple of barstools the man slid the ready drink in front of Yang.

"Strawberry Sunrise," he explained. "No ice."

"You forgot the umbrella," Yang pointed, but never the less took a sip. "Not bad. Oh, what's this?" Yang pointed at a bowl and Blake say it filled with some kind of fruit, that reminded her a bit of lemons in appearance.

"Loquats," Junior clarified. "Mix up with an order and now I'm trying to get rid of them. Want one?"

"Nah," Yang waved him off. "I don't eat anything I can't pronounce."

"That could be rice," Junior smirked.

"I believe I had a question?" Yang asked, her friendly demeanor immediately replaced with quiet anger and Blake had to resist the urge to giggle. It was comical how the blonde could make fun of anyone and anything, but hated _being_ made fun of.

"Word on the street is," Junior began as he took a piece of cloth and started to clean a glass. "That Tukson is,… Was, a member of the White Fang."

The little bit of information sent a chill down Blake's spine. Sure the book, _Third Crusade_ , should have probably been a tip off for her, but she had hoped that it was a coincidence. After all, _Third Crusade_ was an assassination order.

"The White Fang?" Yang asked surprised. "I thought they didn't operate in Vale?"

"They didn't," Junior confirmed. "Not until about six months ago, right around the time Councilwoman Fall started her campaign against the Fang, Remnant wide. Guess they needed the manpower."

Blake tried to keep her composure as Junior himself probably wasn't aware how close he came to hitting the nail on the head.

During her years in the White Fang, they never expanded into Vale for the simple reason that it didn't really offer much in terms of resources, both industrial and in terms of manpower. Vale was the intellectual capital of Remnant, with just enough infrastructure to support itself with most other things being imported from Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral. Oh sure it served as a travel hub and it made getting in and out of the other three easier, but it was also the most accepting of the Four Kingdoms when it came to Faunus. Hard to build up a following when everyone is happy.

That is, until six months ago, Councilwoman Cinder Fall started to really crack down on the White Fang and by extension Faunus in general. The woman's crusade was ruthless and incredibly spot on, to the point where many of the White Fang branches started accusing each other of treason.

"Dad did say the campaign was a mistake," Yang muttered.

"Mistake or not, it gave the Fang a chance to start a small following here," Junior shrugged. "So far they've been playing nice with others though, except one or two hits against the _Schnee Mining Company_ , but that's to be expected."

"What does this have to do with Tukson being killed though?" Yang asked. "What's the point of killing a supporter?"

"Getting there Blondie," the man raised his hand. "I overheard that Tukson was trying to get out. Contacted one of my dealers for documents to get out of Vale and into Patch. Last I heard from my guy as well."

"Any idea who made the hit?"

"No," Junior shook his head. "The Fang likes to keep things in house. Even I'm not privy to that kind of infor…"

"Hey! Xiong!" a male voice yelled from behind them and Blake saw one of the patrons moving toward them. "What's the big deal letting the blonde bimbo in?"

"I don't know," Yang replied, her voice cheerful. "Why did you let this guy in Junior?"

"Look you two," Junior spoke up. "I don't want problems in my bar. You want to fight, go outside."

"Oh, you are such a spoil sport Junior," Yang laughed and then turned toward the other patron. "Now scram off, I've got business to discuss with Junior."

"Whatever," the man scoffed. "Have fun rigging your next match! God knows you can't win otherwise!" he continued, just loud enough for the other patrons to hear. Some of them even laughed.

Blake felt Yang bristle next to her, hands clenching into fists. The girl literally started radiating aggression. Figuring that this could very well erupt into a brawl, Blake started to look around the bar for a weapon of some kind. While she could probably go hand-to-hand, especially since this time she was rested and not starving, she didn't really like fighting without an advantage.

"Why don't you come over here and say that?" the blonde turned around on her barstool, glaring at the man, knuckles cracking.

"Xiao Long, I don't need another repair bill," Junior stated calmly, though Blake noticed that he had retreated a few steps back.

"I'd love to," the man replied with a confident smirk. "But that'd mean taking you away from your pet."

Blake felt her nails scratch the counter at the remark, but she quickly reigned in her emotions. The insult was something she'd gotten used to over the years. It didn't need to register externally.

Internally however,…

"Why you,…" Yang got up, but before she could take a step toward the man, Blake grabbed her wrist.

"Don't be so dramatic," Blake sighed as she got off the bar stool. "I'll be back in a minute." She called back as she walked toward the man.

"Oh, this I going to be rich!" the man laughed and was quickly joined

 _Yes it will,_ Blake smirked inwardly.

 _ **Club "Black Bear's Den" Bar**_

"Blondie, go and bail out your friend," Junior urged Yang, who simply nodded and started to walk toward the group.

After she got rid of the annoying idiot who insulted her boxing, Yang had every intention of beating some sense into Blake for taking the bait. Sure it sounded hypocritical, even to herself, but the difference between them was that Yang could actually beat the stuffing out of those drunk losers and Blake would probably just…

 _Hit him straight in the solar plexus,_ Yang blinked as she saw the black haired girl delivered a precise blow, just under the man's ribs, making him double over in pain. As his head reached a low point, Blake slammed her elbow into his nose and Yang heard a familiar crack as the guy's head rubber banded back up, blood spraying from the broken appendage. Not giving him time to recover the raven-haired girl, swept her right leg forward, catching the tall oaf's ankle as she went and sent him tumbling down to the floor.

Yang blinked dumb folded at the display and simply sat back down.

"On second thought, I think she's got this," she said to Junior and grabbed the remainder of her drink.

"Hm,"

From her seat, Yang saw as the second man encroached Blake and tried to sucker punch the girl from behind, but she simply moved to her right, letting the hand pass through where her head was moments before, and then seized the limb and with a simple repositioning of her legs, sent the man tumbling forward and over her, landing on the first.

Yang was… Impressed.

Sure, the blonde could fight and was one of the things she prided herself most on, (Right after her incredible sense of humor of course) but this was… Elegant.

Oh sure it was savage and deadly, no doubt about that, as she saw a third man go down just as fast as the first two, but it was also so… Pretty. It wasn't Yang's style which consisted of simply punching and kicking her way through the opposition as savagely as she could.

This was precise, efficient and even a bit scary, if she had to be honest with herself.

Another hapless patron decided to join the fray , only for Blake to almost seamlessly move behind him and kick the back of his knees, forcing him to drop down to the floor hard.

"Ouch," Junior muttered as Blake delivered a particularly nasty roundhouse kick to finish off her latest victim.

"I agree," Yang nodded as she sipped her Strawberry Sunrise, not really caring for the drink anymore. The show was far more interesting to her inner brawler.

"So, is she looking for a job…?"

"Hey!" Yang protested. "I saw her first!" she claimed, not caring if she sounded possessive right now. This girl was a hurricane in her own right and only girl besides Coco, Yang had seen fight so ferociously, even if it was restrained.

Yang's musings though were interrupted as she saw that one of the guys who Blake initially knocked down on the floor got up again and actually managed to grab her, while another was approaching, determined to take full advantage of the situation.

Yang quickly dropped her drink and rushed forward, pass the first man and delivered a straight right into the face of the man holding Blake. The guy dropped down to the ground, this time knocked out cold and Yang immediately spun around, just in time to block a wild punch from the man she passed earlier. Before the blonde could retaliate however Blake nailed him with one of the ashtrays from a table, just below the waist and Yang heard a collective groan from all the males in the vicinity.

"That was a bit dirty Blake-y," Yang commented as she raised her fists.

"Then why, pray tell, are you smiling?" the raven-haired girl asked as she moved back to back with Yang.

"I happen to like dirty," Yang smirked, getting ready to continue the fight.

 _I might just have to call Penny tonight,_ the blonde thought as she saw another man approaching the duo.

"Alright, that's enough!" Junior called from behind the bar and all of a sudden, about a dozen men, dressed in identical black suits, with red ties walked in and started to disperse the beaten up patrons and their friends.

"Did you have to do that?" Yang asked annoyed. "This was just getting good!"

"Precisely," Junior nodded. "And my bar is still in one piece. I happen to like it like this."

"You could have called your men in earlier," Blake stated matter-of-factly.

"And risk an all-out brawl? Nah," Junior shook his head. "I prefer clean-up."

"We were doing a pretty good job, _cleaning up_ ," Yang smirked and put her hand around Blake's shoulder

"Shut up, Blondie," Junior sighed and grabbed one of the loquats. "Here, eat a loquat!" he added, plopping the fruit in Yang's mouth, as she opened it to protest.

"Not bad," Yang managed through her chewing. "Where were we before the interruption?"

"I just finished telling you everything I knew about Tukson," Junior answered the rhetorical question. "And I was about to ask you to leave!" he added pointing at the door.

"You really don't know anything?"

"After last time, do you really think I'd lie to you Blondie?" Junior asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Fair enough," Yang shrugged. "Come on Blake!"

With that the two girls started toward the door, but it wasn't before they were well out of Junior's range of hearing that Yang's companion spoke up.

"Think he was telling the truth?" she asked.

"If he knows what's good for him," Yang nodded.

"Sounds like there's a story behind your meeting,"

"Yeah," Yang nodded, smiling at the memory. "And speaking of stories… Where did you learn to fight like that, it was awesome!" she asked, a bit of childish glee slipping into her voice.

"It was nothing special, really," Blake said modestly.

"Nothing?" the brawler asked scandalized. "It was incredible!"

"Maybe," the raven-haired girl shrugged. "But it doesn't change the fact that we're back to square one." He reminded, making Yang realize that she was right. Sure they learned something, but it was a far cry from having a solid lead to follow. Sure they now knew that there was probably a connection to the White Fang, but that didn't exactly mean they could follow up on that.

Sure, Yang was a crazy, adrenaline junkie, thrill-seeker, but that didn't mean she was stupid or suicidal!

"Guess you're right," Yang sighed in defeat. "We could always tell the police about it." She offered. "Junior isn't exactly on the up and up with some of his business practices, but his information is known to be reliable even by VPD standards."

"It could work," Blake nodded and Yang immediately grabbed her and started dragging her toward the street so they could hail a cab.

What surprised Yang though was that she saw Schnee walking toward them. What was even more surprising to Yang was that the girl looked exactly like she did when they left her back at _Tukson's Book Trade_ , leading Yang to believe that the heiress hadn't gone back home, like she originally stated she'd do.

"Xiao Long, I need to talk to you!" the pale girl called out as she stalked toward them.

"What do you want Princess?" Yang asked. "I'm in a hurry!"

"I might have some information…" Schnee began, but Yang's scroll rang, interrupting her.

"Sorry, but this is more important," Yang smirked, causing the other teen to bristle as Yang pulled out the communication device and saw that Ruby was calling her. "Hey Rubs, what's…"

" _I have your sister!_ " a male voice informed her from the other end, making Yang's stomach drop.


	6. Chapter 6

_Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 6_

 _ **Outside of Club "Black Bear's Den" (A few moments later)**_

Weiss would be lying to herself if she said that the image of Yang Xiao Long dropping to her knees with a broken expression on her face had never made itself present in her dreams. After all, her Father taught her to crush her enemies without remorse, pity or consideration if she wanted to make it in the business world.

And it was true that dreams could not compare to the real thing as she saw Yang drop down, scroll tumbling down from her hands, lilac eyes, completely glazed over. The entire thing happened so fast that to Weiss it seemed like a doll whose strings had been cut.

It was sickening to watch.

"Yang!" Blake dropped down next to the blonde and started shaking her. "Yang, what happened?"

Yang started to try and say something, but all Weiss could make out from the babbling was something about Ruby.

It really didn't take much more than that for Weiss to start putting the pieces together.

While Weiss and Xiao Long didn't run in the same social circles, not even close, Weiss was well aware of the blonde's nearly obsessive protectiveness toward her sister. After all, even Weiss heard the rumor that a few years back someone who harassed Yang's sister wound up with missing teeth the next day.

Weiss didn't even dare think what was going through Yang's head if a murderer actually called to say he had taken Ruby.

Another ring sounded from the dropped scroll and since Yang was still nearly catatonic, Weiss picked up the device and saw that a message had been sent, containing an address along with the text _"One hour!"_.

Weiss started weighing her options in her head. She could call the police with the address and claim that a kidnapping had taken place, but she was more than sure that a 'no police' threat was issued to Yang, meaning that doing so would probably put Ruby in even more danger than she was already.

Which left one other option.

Quickly pulling out a map app from the scroll, Weiss entered the address from the message along with the address from the ledger and as soon as the results came up, she couldn't help but smirk.

"Xiao Long, get yourself together!" Weiss snapped at the blonde. "We have to…"

That was as far as Weiss managed to go, before two strong hands grabbed the collar of her dress and slammed her against the nearest wall. Quickly blinking the black spots from her vision, Weiss felt that her feet were no longer touching the ground and her eyes were immediately glued to Yang's face, now a mask of rage.

The blonde's teeth were bared in a ferocious snarl, that reminded Weiss of a lioness, lilac eyes resembling cold amethysts, boring into her.

"My sister," Yang spoke, her words barely audible through her gritted teeth. "Has been kidnapped and you're giving me orders?!"

"I… Might have a way to find her…" Weiss managed to get out from her position and as soon as the words left her mouth, Yang's grip started to slacken until Weiss felt that her feet were back on the ground.

"Talk!" Yang ordered.

"The other meeting Tukson had," Weiss started to explain. "I know who ordered the book and I know their address."

"How?" Blake asked and much to her relief Weiss couldn't detect any hostility in the girl's voice, unlike with Yang, who still appeared to be trembling from either rage or fear.

"The ledger,"

 _Or both, I guess._

"The ledger was destroyed. Burned down with the store," Blake pointed out.

"But it wasn't destroyed before I read it," Weiss pointed out. "I have an eidetic memory. Do the math!"

Weiss let the implication of what she said sink in for a moment and once she saw realization dawning on both girls, she continued

"The address sent to Yang's scroll is not ten minutes from the man's address," she explained and showed the two the route she entered on the map application.

"Wait," Blake held up her hand. "I don't want to point out the obvious, but why would you think Ruby is at this guy's apartment? We just found out that Tukson was with the White Fang. If his killer is also a member, Ruby could be in over a dozen locations throughout Vale."

"Yes, but we can't check those!" Weiss protested, trying to validate her point. While she had to at least admit that Blake had a point, plunging Yang deeper into a catatonic state was not beneficial to any of them right. As it was, nearly five minutes of their deadline had passed. "Right now we have a lead we can check. Besides, there is every possibility that Ruby isn't even taken." The white haired girl added, casting a wary glance at Yang.

"It was her scroll that called," the blonde answered in a flat tone. "But I get what you're saying. Maybe someone stole just her scroll."

"Your apartment is on the way to the address that was sent." Blake sighed, though Weiss couldn't understand why she appeared so dejected, like someone had ruined her day. "We can stop by and see if Ruby was really taken."

"Let's go!" Yang shouted and grabbed both Weiss and Blake by the hand and started dragging them toward the street.

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Residence**_

"RUBY!" Yang yelled as soon as the girl stormed into the sisters' apartment and quickly disappeared further into the apartment.

Weiss was last to enter and the picture she was presented with didn't inspire much confidence.

The entire apartment appeared to be torn down. The table from the kitchen was now sideways, chairs overturned all throughout the house, even one of the doors, that Weiss assumed lead to a bedroom was now on the floor.

By all accounts Ruby had put up quite the struggle to try and escape her captors, but even so Weiss had to suppress the disappointment she felt. She half-hoped that the girl would have actually managed to get away or that her scroll was just stolen.

She knew that the possibility for that was slim, but a small traitorous part of her still hoped until a moment ago.

"She not here," Yang spoke up in a dejected tone as she re-appeared from one of the rooms.

"It was still worth a shot," Blake allowed. "And it appears your sister put up a fight."

"Yeah,…" Yang nodded and Weiss could swear there was a hint of pride in her voice. "Thought… Why run into her room?"

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Her room is the only one without a lock," Yang explained. "Not to mention we were planning on changing the hinges, because of an… accident a month or so back."

"So she panicked," Blake shrugged. "Anyone would in her place and she ran into the place she felt most comfortable in."

"What's our time?" Weiss asked turning toward Blake.

"We've got 47 minutes." the golden-eyed girl replied as she glanced at her watch. "The taxi driver dropped us of fast."

 _Understatement,_ Weiss thought back to how Yang nearly strangled the taxi driver every time he even thought about slowing down.

"Let's just see if there's anything inside," Weiss suggested. "Maybe she left us something to follow."

"Knowing Ruby it will probably be something that explodes," Yang replied, though Weiss didn't need years of business training to hear the strain in that joke.

Never the less, the trio stepped pass the broken down door and into Ruby's room, where Weiss had to suppress a gasp.

The place looked less like a room where one would sleep and more like an armory. One whole side of the room was taken up by no less than five weapon storage lockers, each with a digital pad on them. The wall across from the lockers was taken up by a desk and a workbench, both of which were buried under a variety of instruments, from drawing tools and rolls of blueprints, to various instruments whose purpose Weiss couldn't even begin to fathom. The wall above the two surfaces was also buried under blueprints, each overlapping with a different one. On most of them, Weiss noted various designs, calculations and…

 _Are those doodles?_ The white haired girl narrowed her eyes.

"Looks like there was a struggle," Blake noted and pointed at the floor which was covered in various parts and bullet casings, intermixed with the odd book or magazine.

"Not really," Yang shook her head. "That's how it normally looks."

"Then how are we supposed to know if she left us a clue?" Blake asked.

"And furthermore, how can you let her live like this? Weiss asked. "Even those lockers are opened…"

"That's it!" Yang proclaimed and ran pass the other two.

"What is?"

"Ruby is kind of a slob in for a lot of things," Yang admitted. "One of the three exceptions however is her guns and more accurately, gun safety. She'd never leave the lockers unlocked!" the blonde explained and opened the unlocked storage compartment.

"Okay,…" Yang muttered. "This isn't what I was expecting." She explained and pulled out a green case from the locker. "Anyone got an idea what this is?"

As soon as Weiss saw the case she thought of two things. The first and by far the more unpleasant of which was that she'd have to thank her Father for all the times he dragged her on his little 'hunting' trips. The second thought however she gave voice to:

"Xiao Long, your sister is a genius!" she exclaimed and grabbed the case from the blonde. "Now come on, there might be a way to salvage this situation!"

 _ **Location Unknown**_

 _Urgh, my head!_ Ruby thought as she slowly regained consciousness. As she moved to massage her temples however she quickly discovered that she couldn't move her hands and a few tugs later she confirmed that her legs were also bound, one to each of the chair's front legs. ( _I'm actually glad I wore jeans for once, otherwise this would have been embarrassing._ ) As she tried to open her mouth there was a tug on her lips, meaning that someone duct taped her mouth shut.

The events of the previous hours came rushing back to the young teen's head, right down to the moment she opened the door.

" _Yang, did you forget your keys again?" Ruby asked and opened the door._

 _Or at least tried to open the door, because as soon as she unlocked it, she was sent flying back by someone slamming into it. As soon as Ruby landed, black spots started dancing in front of her vision, but a few blinks managed to clear them out._

 _Those precious few moments however had allowed her assailant to walk pass the door, meaning she couldn't just lock him out._

 _As Ruby scrambled to her feet, her assailant ran toward her and made to grab her legs. Ruby quickly rolled to her side and as the man lost his balance, she kicked him in the teeth, which caused him to produce a whining sound, which sounded almost like a dog. Alerted by the sound, Ruby's eyes darted toward the man properly and she noticed that he had a dog's tail._

 _The fact that he was a Faunus gave Ruby an idea and she quickly darted pass the man and under his outstretched arms, silently thanking her short stature for once._

 _As Ruby ran into her room and shut the door behind her, hoping to buy a few more seconds though, she remembered that her room didn't have a lock. She didn't have time to berate herself over her mistake though and ran headlong toward the weapon lockers in her room. Because of her speed, Ruby nearly collided head-first with the metal door and as soon as she stopped herself started to enter the combination for the digital lock._

9-2-6-4-0-9-4-2-6-0-5-6-6-4… _Ruby recounted the password for that particular locker and as she hit "Enter" the locker opened, but before Ruby could retrieve its content, a hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and the next thing Ruby knew, she was unconscious._

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, careful not to alert her captor if he was around. The first thing she saw was that she was indeed bound to a chair with duct tape of all things. The brunette moved her hands experimentally to see how tight the binds were, but quickly discovered that she was in fact tied up correctly and couldn't wiggle out like when Yang tied her up once because she wanted to tag along during Yang's date. The next thing Ruby did was feel the surface of the chair she was tied to and after a few moments realized that she'd been tied to a metal chair of all things. The good news was that her fingers were at least free, if nothing else.

 _This will be interesting_ Ruby thought and darted her eyes left and right, trying to determine if she was alone. After her initial survey, the teen chanced lifting her head and confirmed that she was indeed alone. The apartment itself was fairly large, but surprisingly empty in terms of both furniture and possessions.

Ruby slumped back craning her neck a little Ruby did manage to see the kitchen however and her heart immediately dropped as she saw that every drawler and cupboard in her range of vision had safety locks on them.

 _In Remnant's name are you kidding me?!_ The teen thought and slumped back into the chair as much as the restraints would allow her. After all, there was no way she could open a child safety lock with her hands tied to a chair, even if she could make it all the way over there, which given her current predicament would have been hard.

As the silver-eyed girl was about to give up on her hopes though, she spotted one thing that didn't have a lock on it; a trash can.

 _I did get kidnapped by a dog Faunus… Nah,_ she thought to herself, nearly dismissing her own idea about how to get out of this. _Then again, what do I have to lose?_

Resolute in her idea, Ruby started to rock the chair back and forth as she tried to get enough swing to stand up on her toes… Either that or fall over. As long as she managed to move and be in a position to shuffle forward, she'd consider it a win.

 _Just don't let me fall on my nose,_ Ruby sent a silent prayer as she gathered more and more momentum.

As she nearly fell backwards on the next swing, Ruby knew that either she was getting on her toes on the return swing or she was falling down and writhing her way to the trash can.

 _Here goes!_ She thought as slung forward and pulled upwards, miraculously landing on her toes in the process.

Momentarily forgetting about her gag, Ruby tried to let out a victory cheer, only for a muffled grunt to be the best she could do. Ruby carefully tested her balance and after she was satisfied with it, started to carefully tiptoe her way toward the kitchen.

The process was slow, tiring to perform and extremely stressful in regards to her feet. After the first dozen or so strides, which barely equated to a few feet, Ruby already felt her calves straining from standing on her toes like this. Ignoring her protesting legs, Ruby continued to inch toward her goal and after an agonizingly long five minutes, finally reached the trash can.

 _Here goes,_ she thought and swung the back legs of the chair, knocking the bin over, but lost her balance in the process, falling hard on her left shoulder.

As Ruby blinked the black spots dancing in front of her eyes, she saw an open can tumble pass her.

Not wanting to waste this chance, the teen started to shuffle toward the piece of metal that held her freedom and after several minutes of careful rocking back and forth, managed to grab the empty container.

 _Finally!_ She thought victoriously and started to use the uneven sharp edges on the lid to cut through the tape, which was proving easier than she anticipated. As soon as her fist arm was free from the tape, Ruby was able to grip the can better and made short work of the other three binds and quickly removed herself from the chair.

Taking a deep breath as to prepare herself, Ruby gripped the edge of the band around her mouth and pulled it off in one swift movement. As soon the tape left her lips, Ruby was pleasantly surprised to find out that she wasn't in any insurmountable pain. In fact it wasn't even as bad as getting shots.

Now free, Ruby headed directly toward the door. Even if it was locked, she needed to at least try it before moving on to different ways to escape.

As she was about to reach for the handle of the door though, Ruby heard the very distinct sound of a key being inserted into the keyhole and she instinctively jumped back and her eyes started darting left and right for anything she could use as a weapon, until her eyes fell on a porcelain vase sitting on a small table next to her.

Ruby quickly grabbed her improvised weapon and stepped just out of view of the door and waited, barely even daring to breath, least she ruin the element of surprise.

She heard the door open slowly and footsteps followed, each one increasing the tension in Ruby's mind, until finally, after what felt like an entire hour of waiting she saw someone step into her field of vision and she slung the vase in an overhead blow.

A heartbeat after Ruby slung, she saw a familiar flash of snow-white hair, before the vase in her hands connected with something and the person she slung at fell to the ground.

"What's the big idea?!" a shrill voice called to Ruby and the younger teen immediately identified it.

"Weiss!" Ruby called as she saw the older girl indignantly sprawled on the floor, a gun case held over her head defensively. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you, you dolt!" Weiss replied and got up from the floor. "And what's with that hit? If it wasn't for the fact that I train, you would have cracked my skull! Don't you think anything through?!"

"I did think it through!" Ruby protested. "I thought that you were the Faunus that kidnapped me and that I could knock him out! How was I to know that you…" Ruby stopped her tirade dead in its tracks as she realized what Weiss said. "Wait, Weiss… You came back? You decided to help us?"

"I'm a Schnee," Weiss replied in her usual tone, though Ruby saw a brief flash of light go through her pale blue eyes. "That means that I have to help people and uphold what my family stands for. Even if it means…" Ruby interrupted the girls speech by giving her a tight hug, which seemed to shut her up immediately.

"What are you doing?!" Weiss screamed and pushed Ruby off her.

"Saying 'thanks' for helping me!" Ruby smiled and let go off Weiss as she realized something. "Where are Yang and Blake?"

"They are meeting your kidnapper," Weiss explained. "And they are going to need your help. But first…" she continued hefting up the gun case. "Is this what I think it is?"

Ruby swallowed all the questions that sprang to her mind about why Yang was meeting Ruby's kidnapper and took a look at the green and black case in Weiss' hands and immediately recognized the number.

"It's a modified tranquilizer gun," she rattled off. "I replaced the scope to be military grade including all the spotter equipment I could cram into it and then improved the firing mechanism with a more powerful piston and air tank. It can fire at up to a mile and a half."

"Then come on!" Weiss nodded. "We've got a plan, but you'll need to prove your sister right first!"

 _ **Vale Downtown Storage District**_

Yang took a deep breath.

She had been counting them originally, but once she reached about sixty, she gave up as it was irritating her, which was producing the opposite of the desired results.

There was still no page from Weiss, which meant that they still weren't in position. Yang glanced at Blake who simply looked at her watch.

"Three minutes," she supplied.

Yang did her best not to groan at the mounting feeling of helplessness she felt in her gut.

They really should have thought of a backup plan…

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 _42 minutes ago_

" _What do you mean Schnee?" Yang asked as Weiss made the statement about Ruby being a genius._

" _If I am right, your sister ran into this room to try and capture whoever broke in here," Weiss explained and pointed at the case in the locker. "All we need to do is finish her idea and capture the kidnapper."_

" _Can you actually shoot Princess?" Yang retorted. "Cause I sure as Remnant can't!"_

" _Your sister apparently designs guns," Weiss pointed out, gesturing toward the blueprints. "And you're telling me that you can't shoot?"_

" _I prefer hitting people," Yang countered and tightened her hand into a fist. "What about you,_ bella donna _." The blonde turned toward the last of the three._

 _Blake raised an eyebrow at the strange referral, but shook her head._

" _I can't shoot a rifle," Blake clarified. "But the idea is still viable." she acknowledged._

" _And how exactly if we can't shoot straight?" Yang inquired. "The only one who can shoot straight is Ruby and…"_

" _Precisely!" Blake nodded. "All we have to do is get to her."_

" _You do realize there is a flaw in your plan, right?" Weiss pointed out and much to her annoyance Yang was forced to admit the Schnee heiress had a point. The plan would only work if Ruby really was a captive at this guy's apartment, which was wishful thinking at best. After all, they were talking about someone who committed murder, nearly burned them alive to cover the evidence and was obviously not above using kids as hostages. In fact, a small treacherous part of Yang's mind that started to think that they might not…_

Uh, uh! _The blonde chastised herself._ No negativity!

" _I assume you've got a different idea?" Blake asked and Yang actually flinched at the venom in the girl's voice._

" _I might," Weiss admitted. "I'll go and get her. After all, the kidnapper wants you and Xiao Long there, right? He obviously hadn't been following you after we separated. He doesn't know I'm here, meaning…"_

" _We can stall until you get there," Blake concluded. "And if Ruby isn't there?"_

" _Then you two will have to improvise," The Schnee heiress admitted._

" _There is still one major problem with your plan," Blake pointed out. "The meeting point is thirty minutes from here by car. The apartment complex another 3. So unless Ruby can run 2 miles in under 6 minutes, we're out of luck."_

" _She can do it," Yang assured the other two, a hint of pride slipping in her voice. "Ruby can outstrip the entire track and field team at Beacon if she needed to."_

" _Let's hope you're right," Blake pointed out gravely._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Looks like we're gonna be improvising," Yang muttered more to herself than anyone else, but much to her surprise Blake nodded. "Any ideas?"

"I'm going to have to wait and see who we're dealing with first," Blake admitted. "Can't promise anything before that."

Yang's nodded, her hand straying to her scroll again, to check if the device was vibrating from an unread message. Because of their short time table, they agreed that Weiss couldn't risk actually calling to inform them if she managed to rescue Ruby or not, but instead would just send a message via her scroll.

 _Come on Princess,_ Yang thought bitterly, but before she could do more, a sound caught her attention and she turned toward it, seeing the door of one of the nearby storage units opening. No one came out of the structure though and the door itself was only half raised.

"Think it's an invitation?" Yang asked.

"No doubt," Blake confirmed and stepped closer so she could whisper in Yang's ear. "What do we do though? This ruins the plan, unless your sister can curve bullets."

"Not that I know," the blonde shook her head, ignoring the shiver that the whisper sent down her spine. "Looks like we're really going to be improvising."

"Let's hope we get the chance," the raven haired girl nodded and the two started toward the half opened door, when an idea sprung into Yang's mind. A potentially stupid idea, but it was better than nothing. Not wasting any more time thinking about it, less she be discouraged, Yang grabbed Blake's shoulder, stopping her cold.

"Stop!" she said quietly and then turned fully toward the storage unit and announced in as loud a voice as possible: "We aren't coming in buddy! You want us, you're going to have to come out and get us!"

"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake hissed.

"Improvising," the brawler shrugged and turned back toward the unit. "Come on! I don't have all day!"

Even though Yang was infusing her voice with all the cockiness and bravado she could muster given the situation, her mind was frantic, praying that Ruby was in fact not here. If she was, then Yang was pretty much gambling with her sister's life.

 _Again…_

As Yang opened her mouth to shout again, the door of the unit rose fully and a lone figure emerged from the darkened entrance.

"I was told you care for your sister," the figure muttered as it stepped out into the light.

Once outside the shadows of the unit Yang managed to take a better look at the man, because it was a man, or more accurately a male Faunus, if the droopy dog ears were any indication. Apart from his Faunus features the man didn't appear that distinguishable to yang; average build, average height, average… Everything. It felt very strange that such a man was a killer.

"I do," Yang nodded. "That's why I'm not stupid enough to walk into a dark room with a person who's claimed to kidnap her."

The tone appeared to disturb the man as he appeared to get more agitated and he was muttering to himself. As he finally turned back toward Yang and Blake, Yang felt her scroll vibrate and took it as a sign that Weiss did manage to get to the apartment and Yang fervently waited for a second message. They agreed if it was just one message it would mean that Ruby wasn't at this guy's apartment and that two messages would mean that Ruby was on her way.

"Fine, I came out," the Faunus spoke again. "Now come on, your sister's life depends on you two cooperating."

"Where is she?" Yang asked. "I am not taking a step, before I know she's okay!"

"You seem," the man growled and reached into his jacket. "To really not get how you play this game girly!" with those words, the man pulled out a gun from his coat and pointed it at the two of them. "Now get in the damn storage unit!"

Yang swallowed nervously at the sight of the gun. If Tukson was to be any indication, this man wouldn't hesitate to shoot them if need be and as much of a thrill seeker she was, Yang didn't quite have a death wish.

As Yang started to raise her hands slowly, she felt her scroll vibrate a second time, causing her to pause for a moment and exchanged a quick glance with Blake, who was also complying to the man's demands and she saw the black-haired girl nod slightly.

 _Remnant, this is gonna suck!_ the blonde thought and dove to her left and saw from the corner of her vision, Blake going right.

Yang barely managed to round the nearest corner, when she heard a gunshot ring out through the lot and the all too familiar sound of a bullet hitting somewhere nearby. Ducking on instinct, Yang continued to run, even though some small rational part of her mind was reasoning that she couldn't possibly be hit from around the corner.

Skidding to a halt, Yang started to think. She and Blake needed to buy about three minutes for Ruby to get here, not to mention keep the guy in some sort of open space so she could take a shot at him.

Yang heard footsteps somewhere behind her and an idea crossed her mind: maybe, she didn't actually have to wait for Ruby. The blonde quickly took position next to the corner she just took and balled up her right hand into a fist, all the while she listened carefully for any sound that her pursuer might make.

Sure enough Yang heard heavy foot falls coming her way and she drew back her hand. Seconds seemed to stretch out longer and longer between each step and Yang actually felt cold sweat forming on her brow. She was keenly aware that this was far different from a boxing match or even a bar brawl. One mistake was one too much.

Yang saw the foot of her pursuer cross the corner and swung with all her might at him.

The hit connected, just under the man's ribs and Yang cheered internally as he doubled over from the pain. She knew all too well what a hit like that could do, both having experienced it herself and delivered it not once during a match. Taking advantage of the fact that the Faunus staggered Yang swung her leg out, aiming for the gun in the man's hand, hoping to neutralize the threat the gun presented.

That was when things started to go wrong for the blonde brawler.

Not only did she miss the kick, but the force she put behind was too much and she briefly lost her balance, but that moment proved more than enough as the man grabbed her leg and pulled it out from under her, causing Yang to fall backwards.

Quickly turning her fall into a roll, exhaling as she did so to avoid having the air knocked out of her lungs when she hit the hard concrete. That helped her avoid cracking her head on the unforgiving concrete, but even so, she knew it was over a quick glance upwards confirmed that she was now staring at the barrel of the revolver.

 _ **Vale Downtown Storage District**_

Blake ran as fast as she could.

She figured that either the other Faunus would go after her, as she had little doubt he recognized her by scent, in which case she needed to outpace him and surprise him with an attack from behind, or he'd dismiss her and go after Yang, in which case, she still needed to wrap around and intercept him before he could get to the blonde.

While physically impressive, Blake knew that Yang didn't have any experience in a life or death situation like this had turned out to be.

The revelation that the killer was part of the Fang made everything seem far too grim. She even thought about trying to convince Yang to simply get the VPD involved in an attempt to steer the sisters away from the danger they were rushing into, but Fate, as usual had different plans for her.

 _Okay, next corner should…_

"Blake, stop," she heard a male voice somewhere off to her right and stopped dead in her tracks, a sensation of fear running down her spine, mixed with a strange sense of uninvited excitement.

Slowly turning around toward the direction of the voice, Blake saw the one person she had hoped never to again.

"Adam,…" she breathed and immediately took a defensive stance, while the man walked out of the shadows.

Adam Taurus was dressed in the same attire Blake was used to seeing him in; long-sleeved black trench coat with slit sleeves and more red designs and a white symbol on the left side. His trench coat is red on the inside with red flame-like accents at the bottom and a large emblem on the back, with a white tulip design covered by a red rose design. In his left hand, tightly gripping the handle was a cane, where Blake knew that Adam's favorite weapon, a stylized katana with a red colored blade.

Blake knew that he'd find her sooner or later. She didn't expect it to be quite so fast though. Nor was she expecting having a small cardiac arrest when she met him. Her heart was thumping fast enough that she was actually afraid it might stop. Remnant she wasn't prepared for this. Not by a mile.

"You should have realized this was futile," Adam, who unlike Blake appeared to be completely composed.

"I did," Blake managed, through her half-closed throat. The raven haired girl took a steadying breath before continuing. "Doesn't mean I shouldn't have tried though."

"And why is that Blake?" Adam asked taking a step forward, mirroring Blake, who took one back. "Why now after everything-"

"Because you went too far!" Blake interrupted the man she used to call her comrade.

Adam, for the first time since Blake has known him, actually broke his stride, though the extent of the reaction was hidden from the girl due to the mask that was covering his face.

"And how is that Blake?" he asked. "By finally killing humans, the way they slaughter us almost daily?"

"No, when you started killing Faunus!" Blake countered, all the anger, pain and betrayal she felt over the last few days finally having an outlet. "You ordered the executions of loyal Faunus, whose only crime was that they didn't completely agree with you! Just like you did with Tukson!"

"Tukson was," Adam sighed. "A special case."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, her curiosity overruling her caution and fears.

"Tucson's death, was something I had hoped to avoid," Adam admitted, his stance shifting slightly, hand tightening on the blade's sheath, forcing Blake to plant her heels more firmly on the ground. She knew that if Adam actually chose to attack, there'd be very little she could do against him.

After all, how much of a chance did one stand against their own teacher?

"However," Adam continued. "Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for the greater good."

"The _greater good_?" Blake asked, anger beginning to seep into her voice. "Whose greater good Adam? Faunus? Or yours?"

"You still think there's a difference?" the other faunus asked.

"Lately,… More and more," Blake confirmed in a hushed tone.

Before Adam could respond to Blake's statement however a voice rang out through the area.

"I KNOW YOU"RE OUT THERE!" the voice, which Blake immediately recognized as the Faunus who had killed Tukson, declared. "YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COME OUT, OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL THE BLONDE!"

Silence reigned for a few seconds after the announcement, until Adam spoke up.

"Well, this is certainly unexpected," Adam admitted.

"What is?" Blake she started to mentally go through her options. "That your hired gun is willing to kill someone?"

"Why assume that this faunus is part of the White Fang?" Adam countered carefully, cutting off Blake's next argument in its tracks.

 _Not… part… of the Fang?_

"So, it's come to this Blake," Adam spoke up again, not letting her ponder on his words. "What's it going to be? Come with me and return to the White Fang or go and get yourself killed for a human?"

"Blake," Adam continued. "I meant what I said last night. I want you to come back to your family. To come back to me!"

Blake could have lied to herself and said that she wasn't tempted for a second. She could claim that she didn't thought about it. That she didn't consider for a moment simply taking a few steps and taking her side next to Adam.

But Blake detested lying, much less lying to herself. Because she was tempted. After all she was only a faunus after all and therefore flawed like any other being of flesh and blood under the sun.

It was tempting, simpler, after time it might have actually been happy. Just like before. All she had to do was abandon her principles. All for him, just like before…

As Blake felt her leg move forward however a thought pass through her mind.

 _What would happen to Yang?_

The answer was easy; she'd be dead. Probably followed by her sister, in turn making sure that Tukson's killer would never be caught and a boy would have to spend his life in prison, slowly rotting away, while a killer walked in the sunlight and pretended that nothing had happened.

Could she do that?

That was what her heart was asking; could she, Blake Belladonna take those tentative few steps that would doom three lives for the sake of her own greed?


	7. Chapter 7

_Arc I; Meetings_

 _Chapter 7_

 _ **Outside the Vale Downtown Storage District, top of a building**_

"Made it," Ruby announced as she stormed through the door of a building overlooking the Storage District, tranquilizer gun case in her hand.

"Weiss! Come on!" the brunette called out to her partner who was just now staggering through the door, cheeks flushed probably from keeping up with the blistering pace Ruby set for them.

"Give me... A minute… Air…" Weiss gasped as she made her way toward Ruby while trying to get her breathing in order.

"No time!" Ruby declared as she slung the case open, nearly ripping the hinges off. "Yang's in trouble, I need a spotter!"

"I thought you said you had spotter equipment in the scope?" Weiss asked, her breathing now under control, but never the less stepped up to Ruby, who was assembling the rifle, with deaf precision, without even looking at it, her eyes fixed on the storage containers lying about half a mile away.

 _Please be okay!_ She prayed silently as she put the final pieces of the rifle in place and flipped the stance she built into the gun open.

"I did," Ruby explained as handed Weiss the second scope that was in the case. "I also designed this for the woods. The scope can't give me readings on wind here in the city."

"Right," Weiss nodded, uncertainly and Ruby took aim through the scope mounted on the rifle.

 _Come on, come on, come on-_ Ruby thought as she started scanning the storage units ahead of her.

Each second that ticked by felt like an hour as she searched for her sister and Blake, each roll that was empty increasing the anxiety within her, fingers gripping the rifle tightening, until they were turning white.

"Ruby," she heard Weiss call. "Roll 3, from the right, near the far end."

Immediately, Ruby's instincts kicked in and she slung the rifle in the pointed direction that Weiss indicated and almost instantaneously spotted the man she was looking for along with Yang, who was held at gunpoint on her knees.

Ruby's heart dropped at the sight, but she forced herself to remain calm and willed her fingers to be steady. She couldn't afford to let her emotions get in the way right now.

The brunette sniper took a calming breath before reaching toward the gun case and deafly picked up a tranquilized dart from it.

"Weiss," she breathed slowly. "The knob on the side. Use it to switch between different variables."

Ruby slowly slid the round she picked up into the rifle's chamber, not taking her eyes off the faunus for a moment, watching his every move. Right now he appeared to be shouting something and that's when Ruby realized that Blake was nowhere to be seen.

 _He's probably trying to lure Blake out,_ Ruby theorized. _Let's do this!_

"Weiss, range?" Ruby asked, her right eye now firmly planted on the scope, any indicators of the device switched off.

"701 yards," the white-haired girl supplied after a few seconds.

"Okay," Ruby acknowledged. "A bullet drops around 30 inches for every 400 yards fired. Can you take your scroll and calculate how much of a drop will happen in 700?"

"45 inches," Weiss supplied almost immediately.

"Fast typing," Ruby praised as she started to adjust the rifle on the approximate height as to not miss the shot. She was getting only one chance as it was.

"I don't need a scroll for such childish calculations," Weiss huffed, but didn't give Ruby time to admire the older girl's mathematical skills and asked; "Alright, what next?"

"Right," Ruby refocused and saw that the faunus had turned toward someone else now, probably Blake, but the brunette didn't want to risk confirming that and having to re-adjust. "I feel the wind here is at our backs, so it doesn't make a difference. What about down there?"

"Wait, searching," Weiss replied and Ruby again started feeling the seconds tick away, until three agonizing eternal ticks of the clock she received her answer. "Same down there."

"Here goes," Ruby declared and placed her finger on the trigger, while exhaling.

"Think you can make the shot?" Weiss asked and for the first time Ruby felt genuine concern break through the cold.

"Ask me again in a moment," Ruby begged as she inhaled.

Just as the faunus below moved his weapon toward the new person in front of him, Ruby exhaled and pulled the trigger simultaneously, sending the dart flying.

Not taking her eyes off the scope, Ruby saw the dart plunge into the man's back, slightly below the shoulder, mere moments after she pulled the trigger and her target dropped to the ground, a few heartbeats later, the serum inside the dart taking effect.

"Thank Remnant it hit," Ruby sighed in relief as she finally removed her eyes from the scope's glass and let go of the rifle. Once she did however, the brunette felt a slight stinging sensation along her palms and looking down saw that the frame of the gun had all but embedded itself in her hands, nearly drawing blood from the force of the grip.

"That certainly acted fast," Weiss observed, putting down the spotter scope.

"My uncle Qrow always gets me the best stuff for my birthday," Ruby confirmed, feeling a lopsided grim spread on her face. "He's cool like that."

"Cool or not, it's high time we call the poli-" Weiss began, but her scroll rung before she could complete her sentence. "Yes?- Xiao Long?- Yes, your sister is here- No, we need to- This is my scroll you can't just- Fine! It's for you!" The white haired girl said, hanging Ruby the scroll, her face contorted into a grimace that reminded Ruby of a scary tribal mask.

"Yang?" Ruby asked as she picked up the scroll. "Yes, I'm okay- Yes, Weiss found me- Yang is Blake with you? Oh good- No, everything is okay, I promise- Um, Yang why are you crying?"

 _ **Vale Police Department, Interrogation Room, one hour later**_

"This place is starting to look familiar," Yang observed as the four girls waited inside the featureless gray room that they were left in by the VPD, after they were picked up from the Storage District.

Yang had managed all of 5 minutes as Ruby counted them, before speaking, which was surprising to the younger sister, considering how much adrenaline was probably pumping through the blonde's veins.

"Being here twice in one day, has that effect on people," Blake confirmed, though to Ruby if felt more like she was only making small talk, and not really there. In fact the raven-haired girl barely spoke after they re-united with her and Yang. Then again Ruby reasoned that many people who've been knocked out, nearly burned alive and threatened at gun point in the span of a few hours wouldn't be feeling all that chatty.

"Whatever the reason let's not make it a tradition," Weiss interfered, her tone of voice making her displeasure at the current situation more than clear.

"Come on Schnee!" Yang protested. "We kicked the bad guy's butt, Ren will probably walk and we'll be rewarded! What's so bad about that?"

"Oh nothing," Weiss nodded, although Ruby could hear the mockery in her voice. "Except that we, endangered our lives, broke into another person's residence, used firearms against them, hindered a police investigation and withheld evidence. I'm sure the police would be thrilled!"

"I guess we didn't think it all through, huh?" Ruby asked, offering an apologetic smile, before the door opening caught all of their attentions.

"No, Miss Rose," a white haired man, wearing a green suit confirmed as he entered the room, a white cup of coffee in his hand. "You did not."

"Oh," Ruby deflated under the man's gaze, casting her eyes downwards.

"Commissioner?" Weiss asked shocked/ "What are you doing here?"

"Wait! You know this guy Schnee?" Yang asked, equally surprised.

"Indeed, Miss Xiao Long" the Commissioner confirmed. "I ran into Miss Schnee earlier today. My name is Ozpin and I am the Commissioner of the Vale Police Department."

"Ruby Rose," Ozpin started reading off the names from a folder he had brought with him. "Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long. You girls have had quite the interesting day, I dare say."

"That's one way to put it," Ruby supplied, Rubbing her head. No sooner had she finished speaking did she feel someone kicking her shin and a quick glance to her side confirmed that Weiss was looking at her disapprovingly. "Sir." the brunette added a bit embarrassed.

"In that case, let me not take any more of your time," Ozpin smiled pass his green tinted glasses. "What Miss Schnee said is true, you girls broke a good number of laws today."

"However," the man continued before Ruby shrunk even further in her chair. "You helped uphold a great deal more and helped a friend in the process, which is commendable."

"As such, I am willing to overlook your actions today," Ozpin confirmed, but before Ruby could jump at Yang for a celebratory hug, Ozpin continued. "But I would ask you to consider a proposition of mine."

"What kind of proposition?" Blake asked skeptically.

"As I said, you girls did good work," the commissioner replied calmly and Ruby got the impression he was choosing his words. "You found leads and followed through, which is the heart of detective work. I thought you might be interested in doing so again."

The girls blinked at one another, confused, before Weiss spoke up.

"I think I speak for all of us Commissioner," the white haired heiress began. "When I say that I find the idea of putting my life in danger constantly a bit… off-putting."

"Pff," Yang snorted and Weiss obvious swap of words. "That's one way to put it Princess!"

"I never meant to imply something like that Miss Schnee," Ozpin assured them. "I will however be frank. Recent rulings within the government has shifted a great deal of police resources toward the White Fang and nothing else."

"As such, I am understaffed at several departments, such as missing persons and mundane robberies. Both areas in which there is a far smaller risk, but the victims or victim's families are willing to pay for the work."

"You're saying private detective work?" Yang asked, cocking her head to the side. "I thought those were a thing of the past?"

"No and as I pointed out, a job that is getting more and more sought after," Ozpin shook his head.

"Excuse me Commissioner, but don't such agencies need permits, licenses…" Weiss began counting off her fingers, before being stopped by the Commissioner.

"All things I'd be willing to sign," he confirmed. "Provided of course, your guardians agree to that _and_ I get to monitor what cases you take and don't take. For your own safety."

Ruby leaned back in her chair a bit at Ozpin's words. Private detectives? Them?

Suddenly an image of herself in a long trench coat and a fedora appeared unbidden and the silver-eyed girl had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

Still…

If what Ozpin said, it was a chance to help people. Those in danger, those who had nowhere else to turn. Kind of like the heroes from the fairy tales Yang used to read her as she grew up. It felt… right!

"I'll let you think it over as I prepare the paperwork," the Commissioner smiled and got up to leave.

Once alone, the girls erupted in a discussion.

"Well, what do you guys think?" Ruby asked, her excitement at the prospect finally bubbling over. "It would be so awesome! We'll get to help people and be heroes and-"

"I don't know Ruby" Yang shook her head. "Might be dangero-"

"You heard what Ozpin said!" Ruby cut Yang off, before she could go in full, overprotective sister mode. "He'll monitor what cases we get!"

"I'm still not-"

"Weiss what do you think?" Ruby immediately turned to search for support from the remaining two people on the table.

"Why are you including her?" Ruby's sister asked.

"Because without her, your plan would have failed!" Ruby pointed out and before Yang could protest, Blake put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Your sister has a point."

"Ugh! Fine! Schnee?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Weiss bit straight back at the blonde, her pale blue eyes narrowed. "While I don't share your sister exuberance, this might actually be an opportunity and provided we can keep the… life shortening situations to a minimum, I am willing to play along, at least for a while… If I manage to convince my Father, that is."

"Fine, 2 to 1," Yang muttered, clearly annoyed. "Deciding vote! Blake?"

Ruby peered at the raven-haired girl, who appeared to be deep in thought ever since Ozpin entered the room and read off their names. Ruby honestly couldn't say what was going on inside the girl's head, but she hoped that this wasn't going to end up in a tie.

 _Guess there are downsides to having a team made of even numbers,_ Ruby thought distractedly as she waited for an answer.

"While I don't share Ruby's optimism or… Innocence," Blake began to speak slowly. "I do agree that we might be able to help people in this way. Not by much, but every little bit helps in this day and age. Maybe we might even be able to give an example to others."

Ruby fought hard to keep her excitement at bay… For about two seconds, after which she jumped up, nearly sending her chair tumbling back.

"We're gonna be detectives!" she declared loudly, just as Commissioner Ozpin walked back through the door.

 _ **Outside the Vale Police Department**_

Blake had to admit her life had taken quite a few turns in the last 24 hours.

She had gone from member of a, now, terrorist group, to a runaway, to, apparently a private investigator.

Still, now that they were released and Ozpin had given them a list of all the permits and licenses they needed to prepare, Blake had no more distractions from her decision earlier.

She chose to save Yang. 'Save' might have been too strong a word, as both she and the blonde were ultimately rescued by Ruby's marksmanship, but Blake chose to help them. It was… refreshing to not run away…

Except for the small voice in her head that reminded her that she did in fact run away. Run away from the White Fang, run away from the problems it has caused her. So how long until she ran away from this? How long before this little… investigative work became too much?

After all, this is what Blake was good at… Running away from her problems…

"Remnant to Blake!" A voice snapped the cat faunus out of her musings and she saw that Yang was waving a hand in front of her face. "You okay?"

"Yes," Blake replied calmly, trying to push her thoughts back. "You were saying?"

"We're going to go get some noodles to celebrate-" Yang announced and grabbed Ruby in an excited hug. Blake was almost certain that the brawler was simply assuring herself that her sister was indeed there and well, as she had been doing ever since they re-united in front of the Storage District.

"Hm-hm," Weiss interjected somewhere from behind the blonde, causing Yang's eyes to close in annoyance.

"And also to discuss how we're going to go about doing this detective business," Yang conceded.

"Mostly to discuss it," Weiss corrected. "After all, we have to decide on a lot of things. Location, advertisement, logistics, equipment-"

"And I have a feeling that you already have a brilliant plan?" the brawler asked skeptically.

"I do, sort of," the heiress admitted. "Provided _your_ father is willing to give us the apartment for this purpose."

"Wait, what?" Yang sputtered at the Schnee girl's words. "You want us to _live_ together? That's insane!"

"Think about it!" Weiss almost… _pleaded_ in Blake's opinion. "Your apartment is centrally located, spacious enough to house us, provided your sister cleans up that disaster area of a room, close to school and there is plenty of junk just lying there we can use!"

"My babies aren't junk!" Ruby protested, clutching the tranquilizer gun she received back from the VPD. "They saved our lives today. Twice!"

"When was the last time you used them outside of a shooting range before today?" Weiss asked crossing her arms, expression skeptical.

"Um, never," Ruby admitted, her head dropping down.

"My point precisely," Weiss nodded. "So, what do you say?"

Blake cocked her head to the side. In her opinion, while there was merit in her words, the Schnee heiress appeared a little too… desperate in Blake's opinion to push this idea of them all living together.

"I don't know Schnee," Yang muttered. "We barely stand each other at school and now-"

"Come on yang, it will be awesome!" Ruby interjected a huge smile plastered on her face. "We can turn my room into an armory and the living room into an office and-"

"Ruby, there is no way in hell four people and all our stuff can fit into my room." The blonde paled, in Blake's mind more at the prospect of sleeping in the same room as Weiss than anything else.

"Not if we use bunk beds!" the younger of the two sisters squeed.

"Look," Weiss interjected before Yang could respond. "Let's get to the restaurant, have something to eat and discuss this at length."

"Okay," Yang nodded. "But you're paying!"

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Household, several hours later**_

Blake dropped on the couch at the sister's apartment ( _Our apartment now!_ She corrected herself) the day's excitement and the grueling job of keeping yang and Weiss from killing each other during dinner finally taking their toll on her.

While dinner was indeed productive for the most part, with the girls managing to agree on several things, from who would take care of the documentation (Weiss naturally accepted after Ruby spent two minutes trying to figure out what some of the text meant) to them actually managing a relatively decent proposal to Yang and Ruby's father about the idea. Blake was still on the opinion that Weiss pressed a bit too hard about the whole living thing, but no matter how Blake phrased it, the white-haired girl didn't slip.

 _An inquiry for another time,_ the faunus mused as she watched Ruby and Yang speak between themselves in the kitchen. If she felt so inclined Blake could have easily eavesdropped on the conversation, but decided against it. Between both girls' smiles and the articulated gesturing Ruby was using it was obviously something between them.

Besides, there were plenty of things she needed to take care of herself, starting with getting her belongings back. After all, all four of them, provided Weiss convinced her father, would be moving in together in a few days and it would have appeared very strange if Blake didn't have anything with her.

Which meant she needed to break into the White Fang hideout she was stationed at and get her stuff back.

 _No time like the present, I guess,_ the raven-haired girl thought and lifted herself off the couch.

"Blake, where are you off to?" Yang called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, we're making celebratory cookies!" Ruby proclaimed, holding up a bag of cookie dough in her hand.

"Have fun you two," Blake wished putting up a small smile. "I have to go to my old place, get some stuff from there. Can't very well sleep in this, can I?" she added gesturing to her outfit.

"Yeah, Coco would kill you," Yang agreed tapping her chin with the end of a wooden spoon. "Need some help?" the blonde asked cheerfully.

"No, I'll be fine," Blake declined politely. "And besides, didn't Ren tell you to take it easy tonight?"

"Fine," Yang deflated, perhaps a little too much in Blake's opinion, but conceded the point as she probably remembered the recommendation the young pharmacist made after Yang talked him into checking out the few injuries she still had from her last match.

"I'm just glad he got out so fast," Ruby proclaimed. "Anyway, have fun Blake!" the younger girl wished and immediately started dragging Yang back inside the kitchen.

 _Right, fun…_ Blake sighed internally and opened the door…

Only to be met with half a dozen boxes right in front of her, piled neatly in front of the door. Her amber eyes spotted a neatly folded piece of paper on top of the foremost box, a rose symbol on the back of the paper.

Tentatively Blake picked up the piece of paper and opened it. Inside in beautiful cursive it read:

 _Blake,_

 _While you've made your stance on the current situation abundantly clear I do hope that you would reconsider your stance in a few months._

 _In the meantime, I've arrange for all of your gear and belongings to be delivered to your new apartment._

 _Think of it as the proverbial olive branch if you ever decide to come back._

 _Adam Taurus_

Blake's eyes scanned the note several times over, not wanting to believe it.

After the fourth time she read the passage, she tucked the note carefully within her pocket and opened the nearest box. True to the letter, Blake recognized several of her outfits, along with a few books from her personal collection.

"Everything okay Blake-y?" Yang's voice rang out and a moment later Blake felt the blonde hovering behind her.

"Well, that was fast!" the brawler declared. "You know if this investigative gig doesn't work out you can go into moving services."

"Funny," Blake replied drily. "Some… friends of mine apparently wanted to surprise me."

"Well, I'm surprised!" Yang smirked. "let's get all this inside and start arranging, shall we?" not waiting for Blake to agree even, Yang took two of the boxes and marched inside the apartment.

The note in Blake's pocket felt uncharacteristically heavy.

 _ **Schnee Manor**_

Weiss opened the door into her Father's study as slow as she could, in hopes of giving her a few more seconds to prepare herself mentally for what she was about to endure. She had prepared her speech ever since she returned from the restaurant. It needed to be perfect after all. Nothing less would be able to convince her Father to agree.

And this was probably her last chance.

 _Come on Weiss, you're a Schnee!_ The white-haired girl coached herself. _You can do this!_

"Father," she greeted as she finally pushed the door opened completely.

Her Father's study was much like the man himself; white, cold, uninviting and decorated to emphasize both importance and dominance, from the financial degrees, to the hunting trophies, to the large, intimidating desk, positioned to overlook the entrance to the room, reminding Weiss more of a king's throne than a businessman's desk.

"Weiss," the man greeted, not really lifting his gaze from the paperwork he was working on. "You didn't knock."

"I apologize Father," the girl immediately bowed at the reprimand. "I have something to talk about with you and I felt it could not be delayed."

"I see," the man nodded, this time letting the pen in his right hand rest on the desk, cold blue eyes shifting from the documents to Weiss. "Does it have something to do with why you were _arrested_ today?"

 _Son of a faunus!_ Weiss cursed internally, though in retrospect she shouldn't have been surprised at her Father's knowledge of the event.

"To a point, yes," Weiss admitted and a tiny, nod from her Father told her to continue. "While we were questioned in how we helped detain a murderer-"

"Faunus from what I understood,"

"Yes," Weiss nodded, biting her tongue at the interruption. "As we were being questioned we met with Police Commissioner Ozpin," the mentioning of the name was met with a dismissive huff. "He informed us that perhaps I and the other girls that were with me had the required skills to be investigators-"

"I've heard enough," her Father dismissed her and picked his pen back up. "This conversation is over."

"Just like that?" Weiss asked before she realized the words left her mouth. Not wishing to apologize, the future heiress pressed further. "Before hearing any arguments, any justification, you just dismiss me?"

"There are no arguments to be heard," her Father countered. "You are a Schnee! You are my daughter! Not some glorified aid worker for those too weak to seek their own justice!"

"And didn't you taught me that it is the duty of a Schnee to help? Or is that another thing that you've forgotten?"

"I will not be questioned in my own house!" her Father declared raising to his full height. "Your duty is to lead the Schnee company after my passing, provided your sister doesn't reconsider of course."

"Something you are no doubt praying desperately for!" Weiss replied, her voice having risen to nearly a yell.

"Perhaps," her Father all but admitted. "After all you lack several characteristics of a good businesswoman, chief among them being how soft you are!"

"Soft?" Weiss asked, her voice now an angry whisper. "Very well… Sine we're both businessmen, I propose a deal!" the teen declared, having anticipated such a turn of events, if not the details of it.

"A deal?"

"Yes a deal," Weiss nodded. "You let me and the other 3 open a Private Investigation firm. No interference with documentation on your end and I won't touch Schnee funds for the project. Then you give me six months to turn it into a successful small business."

"Six months?" her Father repeated thoughtfully. "And your definition of success?"

"We make a profit," Weiss shrugged. "It is only a small business after all, no need for something more."

"And the terms if either side wins or loses?" her Father asked curiously and Weiss, much to her unease, noticed branches of logic starting to fill out behind her Father's calculative gaze.

"You set your own right now," Weiss proposed. "Mine are that if the business is indeed a success you let me continue with it until I graduate college, here, in Vale. After that we'll talk again."

"that's quite a gamble for me though," her Father pointed out. "If this business is a success, then I am left with no heir until you turn at least 21." He summarized, but Weiss saw his eyes gain a gleaming edge to them.

"What are your terms?" Weiss asked, not backing down, despite the fear running down her spine.

"If," her Father began going round his desk toward her. "Your business fails, without any interference from me, you are to return home and agree to be privately tutored, just like Winter. Back in Atlas."

Weiss' grip tightened around the documents she was carrying with her, and for a moment she felt like backing out of her own deal. After all if she lost…

No! She wasn't a coward! She wasn't going to run!

"I agree with your terms!" Weiss said, resolutely, despite knowing that she was about to shake the Devil's hand for a deal.

 _ **Xiao Long/Rose Household, near midnight**_

Yang Xiao Long couldn't sleep.

It surprised the blonde in reality as she thought that after the day she endured she'd fall asleep like a rock, completely ignoring the alarms she set up for herself with her scroll. But no, sleep simply refused to claim her tonight and unlike most night's she couldn't blame Ruby's tinkering for that fact.

No it was the situation she found herself in. Private Investigator… A part of yang was jumping around from joy. After all, this job meant, adventure, excitement, danger… Everything she could ever want out of a career. In fact, she was surprised she never thought of it beforehand.

 _But did I really have to drag Ruby with me?_ The brawler asked herself. Fighting back the glee from the potential prospects of her new 'job' she really had to question if she shouldn't have fought harder for Ruby NOT to be part of the team. After all… Ruby was 15. True, a great many people would call Yang a hypocrite at her measly 17 years of age, but the feeling was still there.

The feeling that she was failing at protecting Ruby. Hell if she wasn't so reckless and simply content with going back home after a match, they wouldn't be in this situation.

 _But then you wouldn't have met Blake._ Another part of her reminded and Yang felt her lips curl upwards at the thought of the raven-haired girl.

 _Not the time to think about the past,_ Yang told herself. After all, all she could do now is try and protect Ruby better, even if her little sister insisted she didn't need it. Yang would do anything in her power to prevent that night from happening again!

Then her scroll started ringing.

The older sister made a near instantaneous grab for her scroll as soon as the thing's alarm went off, signaling to her that it was time to put her plan into motion. Quickly hitting the 'Dismiss' button on the device, as to not wake the rest of the apartment's inhabitants. After all, a 'secret plan' only worked if nobody else knew about it.

The blonde brawler turned on the flashlight option of her device and quickly located the pair of fluffy slippers she prepared beforehand as to muffle her footsteps she was going to have to take across the wooden living room floor.

Yang quietly pushed her door open and peered into the living room where Blake was staying, until they could get another bed inside tomorrow and begin Ruby's "Grand Plan for the Construction of the Best Bunk-Beds EVER!TM".

The sneaking teen cast a worried glance at Ruby's door. One of the few things that could ruin her plans was if her easily excitable sister was still up, tinkering away at something. Luck however was on the blonde's side as Ruby's room was pitch black.

Yang made her way carefully toward the kitchen where the stationary phone was placed and picked it up, along with a card that was placed next to it.

The phone rang for well over a minute, before a very sleepy voice picked up.

"Mgh... 'Polendina's Garage and Vehicle Repair'… Penny, speaking!"

"Penny it's Yang!"

"Salutations Yang!" the girl at the other end of the phone replied a little more awake and twice as cheerfully than necessary. "What are you inquiring at this late hour?"

Yang smiled and glanced at the couch where Blake was sleeping.

"I finally got my inspiration!"

 _ **Vale Police Department, next Monday**_

Ozpin was sitting at his desk, staring at the chess pieces on his board. A knight, bishop, queen and rook were all lined up in front of him, before the board, waiting to be placed on their respective place. Waiting to be used.

And yet, Ozpin couldn't find it within him to pick them up and move them into the positions he had thought off. At least not yet.

But did he have any choice? Did he have time to debate his tactics with himself at such a point in the game.

With a heavy sigh, the commissioned picked up the white knight piece, just as a knock on his door was heard.

"Enter," he answered, despite knowing that it would make no difference. He was expecting this visit for over a day now.

As soon as the 'n' was out of the man's mouth, the door flew open, slamming against the wall behind it and Glynda Goodwitch, Headmistress of Beacon stalked forward.

The woman was wearing a white, long-sleeved suit, with puffy sleeves that were tighter along her wrists, a black business skirt and lighter, black-brown stockings. Her black boots reverberated with every single step she took through the office, until she stopped directly in front of Ozpin's desk, leveling her emerald gaze at the man.

"Glynda," Ozpin greeted with a smile. "Lovely to see you to-"

"Cut the crap Ozpin!" the headmistress snapped at him and leaned on the desk. "You're using my students!"

"I am not using them as you put it Glynda," Ozpin said. "The girls made the choice themselves. Their guardians seemed to also be… accepting of the idea."

"Yes, do tell what bullshit you fed Taiyang to get him to agree with using his daughters as pawns in your little game?" Glynda bit back, a few more strands of blonde hair escaping from her tight hair bun.

"The truth," Ozpin admitted. "While reluctant, he did eventually concede that _she_ needs to be stopped."

Ozpin saw a myriad of emotions play out on Glynda's face before she finally replied.

"Remnant take you Ozpin! One of these days, your games are going to backfire! I told you as much back when Summer died!"

"Yes, you did," the commissioner agreed. "And I believe we're all paying for that now."

"You mean the Fang appearing again?"

"The Fang, this new Black Queen that's taking center stage, James, tying our hands outside Vale, protest after protest against the Schnee Mining Company- I've never felt quite so old or powerless, Glynda,…" Ozpin trailed off.

"And you truly believe these children are the best move you can make?" Glynda asked, her anger quelling down a little.

"Perhaps," Ozpin replied. "For now, the best I can do is keep them out of her notice, see how it goes from there."

Silence reigned inside the office for a few moments, until either of them spoke up again.

"I don't enjoy putting innocents in the crosshairs of madmen Ozpin," Glynda admitted, her eyes downcast.

"Those who do are often the madmen themselves," Ozpin observed brining his coffee cup to his lips. "But this was inevitable, especially when it comes to Summer Rose's daughter. I merely accelerated the timetable."

"Precisely, Ozpin," Glynda confirmed. "That's what you always do! And one of these days, you'll push too far!"

With those words the headmistress turned on her heel and walked out of the office, not bothering to close the door, leaving Ozpin alone.

Taking a determined breath, the commissioner picked up the pieces and placed them on the board.

 _ **Location Unknown, Operating Center of the White Fang in Vale**_

"You promised me a base!" Adam roared at the computer screen. "And now, not only do we not have that, but one of my top lieutenants has deserted!"

"Now, now Adam," A garbled, but clearly female voice replied over the speakers. Instead of a picture there was the still image of a black chess queen, taking up the entire screen. "I promised you a base, and I will deliver. The location will merely need to change."

"As for your 'lieutenant' that one is squarely on you," the voice continued.

"I didn't anticipate that Tukson's murder would cause her to flee," Adam defended his action.

"Even, so it is of little consequence," the voice continued. "As it is, we are aware of where she is residing and if need be I can arrange for her elimination."

Adam's jaw tightened at the suggestion, but he bit back his first response, instead opting for something a little more diplomatic.

"Hold off on that for the time being if possible," Adam requested. "I don't believe Blake is fully willing to abandon the cause. Perhaps in a few months when our actions become more assertive."

"My, my," the voice replied, almost teasingly. "It appears you've grown quite close to your 'lieutenant'."

"Nothing of the sorts," Taurus corrected. "I merely believe that she could be useful to us. Especially if she gains Ozpin's trust."

"If you believe so," the Black Queen all but sneered, despite the audio distortion. "In the meantime, I'll arrange for construction to begin at our nearly acquired property. I myself would have liked the more central position the boy's shop offered, but the Faunus' apartment will suit us just as well."

"How many of my men will you be needing?" Adam asked.

"A few dozen. Faunus working on the site will mean we won't have to bribe other workers. Or have them killed."

"Not a loss either way," Adam pointed out.

"But it attracts attention," the Black Queen reminded. "And I believe we have enough of that for the moment. I'll be in touch."

With that, the connection was dropped, leaving Adam alone with his thoughts. Taking a determined breath, the commissioner picked up the pieces and placed them on the board.

 _ **Vale City Hall , simultaneously**_

Cinder Fall, councilwoman of the city of Vale, reclined back in her chair, a smile playing on her lips.

"That went better than expected," she assured the other two occupant of the room.

"I still think leaving Belladonna alive is a mistake," Emerald pointed out from the other side of the desk, where she was writing her homework. "She has way too much information about the Fang she could share."

"True enough, but fear is what will safeguard that secret," Cinder pointed out to her adoptive daughter. "We know that Xiao Long and Rose won't shun her for being Faunus, but she doesn't. Or at least isn't ready to accept it."

"And if that changes?" Mercury asked from the couch, where he was dutifully ignoring the stack of books next to him.

"Then we shall see," Fall agreed, rising from her chair. "For now, continue to play friends with the two girls. Ozpin is taking quite the risk bringing them into the fray. I want to see if they'll pose a threat."

"You actually believe that?" Mercury asked almost appalled as he rose to a sitting position. "Xiao Long is good and her sister is a decent shot, but it's nothing me and Em can't handle."

"I have just as much faith in your abilities," Cinder pointed out. "However, galvanizing Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, along with the Schnees against us isn't something we can afford now. Killing their brats is a sure-fire way for us to fail."

"For now we wait!" she decreed and turned toward the window. "Get in touch with Roman. I'll be needing his services soon."

 _ **Polendina's Garage and Vehicle Repair, one week later**_

"Xiao Long, I would like to remind you we have a good deal more paperwork to finish," Weiss protested as the girls stood in front of a closed garage door, on the outskirts of Vale.

"Sheesh, Ice Princess, lighten up a bit!" Yang chastised her.

The blonde had gotten up an hour before everyone else and much to their protests dragged them to Penny's family's garage as soon as the other three had managed a few bites of breakfast.

Despite the nagging feeling that she was going to regret that move a few hours from now, Yang was too overjoyed to care. Her yearlong project was finally complete!

"Yang, why have you dragged us here?" Blake asked, her eyes narrowed, promising a slow and torturous death if the reason wasn't important enough. It was a look Yang became very familiar after a week of living with the black-haired beauty and one too many puns.

"Because, my _bella donna_ ," yang began with a flourish. "Today is the day on which finally, after a year of fruitless labor, my own pet project is complete!"

"Oh, my God!" Ruby exclaimed and started bouncing up and down. "You finally finished the bike?"

"Thank you Ruby," Yang's face fell. "For ruining my grand moment."

"Sorry," Ruby immediately subdued herself and started to twiddle her thumbs in embarrassment.

"Actually for once your enthusiasm is a blessing," Weiss corrected. "Who knows how long your sister might have continued otherwise."

"You know I'm standing right here, right?" Yang feigned being hurt.

"Can we please just see what this is all about?" Blake pleaded in exasperation. "It's barely 8 in the morning and we've been up till one last night until the beds were stable enough to sleep in!"

Yang sighed at everyone ganging up on her and decided to forgo the speech she had prepared.

"Open it up Penny!" Yang shouted loud enough to be sure the young teen mechanic could here.

The garage door started to open up slowly, until what felt like an eternity for Yang, the doors stopped, revealing her creation.

The motorbike within the garage, had a sleek, aerodynamic sports design, with the body riding low to the ground. The engine compartment included supercharger intakes, along with a larger than normal tank, further emphasizing the bike's sport pedigree, with the yellow and black color scheme fitting perfectly to the picture.

To Yang it looked like a dream and she was pleasantly surprised to see the other three members of the newly formed team gawking at the machine wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"Well, naysayers?" Yang asked smugly. Unsurprisingly Ruby recovered from her shock the fastest, having at the very least an inkling as to what she was in for, both from knowing it was a bike and knowing Penny from school.

"Yang, it's awesome!" Ruby shrieked and lunged at the bike, gripping it in a hug. "Take me for a ride! Please! Please! Please! Please!"

"Maybe later sis," Yang smirked at Ruby's enthusiasm.

"What model is this?" Weiss asked taking a step forward.

"It's a Polendina original!" a cheery, if a little off, voice announced and a girl stepped out from around the corner of the door.

She had short, rather curly orange hair that comes down to her chin, and she wears a pink bow on the back of her head and was dressed in workman's overalls.

"Salutations new friends!" Penny greeted, her bright green eyes scanning the assembled group.

"Who's that?" Weiss asked apprehensively, her tone suggesting she was slightly creeped out by Penny's behavior.

"This," Yang announced and put a hand around Penny's shoulders. "Is Penny Polendina! Brilliant mechanic and inventor."

"And classmate!" Ruby supplied, hugging Penny from the other side.

"Thank you, friends!" Penny said and hugged both of them back.

"How did you come up with the colors?" Blake asked.

"Well," Yang began, trying to remember exactly how she wrote down the dialogue. "Originally I was planning on orange, but then, last week it hit me that black and yellow go well together. What do you think Blake-y?"

"It looks nice, I suppose," the black-haired girl agreed, though Yang could swear that there was a slight shiver go through Blake. Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw that Ruby was introducing Weiss to Penny, much to the older teen's discomfort. Even though a part of her was cheering at the Ice Princess's discomfort, Yang didn't have time to gloat.

"So," Yang leaned in closer to Blake, propping herself on the bike and putting on a playful smile. "Wanna go for a ride?"

"Tempting," Blake admitted, tracing a finger along the bike and Yang was about to roar out in triumph, before... "But right now I'd rather go back to bed."

"Wha-?" the blonde sputtered out, almost losing her balance.

"Have fun with your bike Yang!" Blake called out as she headed out of the garage and presumably toward the bus station, leaving Yang to stare after her.

 _Well played, Belladonna,_ Yang thought to herself. _But I'll get the last laugh!_


	8. Author's Notes, Arc 1

**Author Notes, Arc 1**

Hello Everyone….

First off… I'm back guys and gals!

Where was I? Well I was taking a hiatus from people annoying me about updating. As I made myself abundantly clear when I started this; I study, I work and I have two other projects to work on, not least of which a web comic I am trying to get off the ground with a help of an artist friend of mine.

So in short: My time to work on this story is LIMITED!

So I took down the story and now I am fresh, re-invigorated with both new purpose and new information from the canon as well as a new principle.

From now on I will be uploading full 'arcs' of my story with one long Author's note concerning them and them alone at the end of each and with NO. SET. SCHEDULE!

Now let's get on with this as it will take some time!

I will first discuss this chapter by chapter and then make a few remarks regarding some of the choices I made.

* * *

Chapter 1: This one I kept mostly the same, with the original one I posted months ago, with the only alteration being Weiss' relationship with Winter, which turned out to be much warmer in canon than it was in my original work. I will have to figure out some other 'primer' however for the future. Also, I am not sure what Weiss' mother's characterization will be or the name, but I deliberately portrayed her the way I did, both personality wise and in her appearance. See if you can spot why!

Also I clarified a joke at the end, people were having trouble with after I realized the problem.

Chapter 2: Same as before and again I do apologize to any actual students of boxing or fencing that might be reading this as I am not a practitioner of either and all my information is second-hand.

Chapter 3: Has absolutely no alterations. I chose the name of the club, because team RWBY first came together to defeat a Nevermore and as such it fit for the first time they were all together in the same physical place, even if not a team.

Chapter 4: Tweaked Ren's story a bit to reflect canon with him being emancipated on account of his parents dying, not to mention it makes Cinder's plans for the shop more feasible. Oh and made Ozpin a commissioner. More thematic to the story and I needed to get Ironwood back to Atlas.

Chapter 5: Weiss having an eidetic memory is not as far-fetched the more I think about it and it will be interesting challenge to come up with mysteries to largely negate the ability. Yang's attraction to Blake I'll explain a bit more about my basis for it after the chapter breakdown.

Chapter 6: This is the chapter that got me stuck last time, mostly because of Adam's dialogue with Blake. My original idea was them to get into an argument, but every time I tried, Adam came up with the more convincing one, to the point where _I_ couldn't deny how write he was. Also, while cheap Yang's defeat I used to illustrate how easily something can go wrong.

Chapter 7: Oh boy, here I've got a bit to talk about, so let's break it down.

Ruby's sniping: I again was forced to use second hand knowledge and the help of a friend of mine who goes hunting with his folks from time to time, so again, anyone more familiar than me with this, mercy, I beg you!

Blake coming back: What? You actually believed she wouldn't?

Skipping Yang going all protective big sister, hugging Ruby and so on after they re-united: Chapter was long enough even without it for my tastes and they would have had more than enough time while they were being transported to the Vale PD HQ.

Ozpin manipulating the girls to his own ends: Guy reminds me of Dumbledore too much in canon. Decided to use it to my advantage.

Blake's belongings: I never figure out how Blake got all of her stuff after leaving the White Fang and I figured something like this was what happened, or she actually snuck back in and stole back all her things. Since this is a more 'normal' AU, I had to omit that as an option. Also a collaborator pointed out that I need to leave my Adam characterization open to change if need be. Originally he was going to be a huge prick, but I relented.

Weiss insisting that they use Yang and Ruby's apartment: Girl saw a way to get away from her father's gaze even for a while and took it. Quite frankly I hope I get the opportunity to drop a bridge on Mr. Schnee! Several if it can be arranged! He's never even appeared in the show and I hate him!

Weiss' deal: She made it along the same lines as the apartment thing, but for a more permanent solution. After all, if she manages to win her side of the bet she might be free. Besides, I like the added tension there will be for Weiss to make this into a business while the others try to help people.

Penny's introduction: Yes, it was a bit rushed, but that wasn't really the focus on the scene and quite honestly given Penny being a robot being unfeasible in this particular AU she just has to be relegated to Ruby's classmate for a while. Sorry.

The Bumblebee: Yang's bike is not based of any real-life bike model I could find. That's why I named it a Polendina original.

Okay that's pretty much all I am willing to touch upon this time around. Yes, I am omitting Ozpin, Glynda, Cinder and Adam's scene's from the chapter, but mostly because they are self-explanatory. I will however touch on the fact that I had Emerald as Cinder's adopted daughter as it is something that will come back in a big way and not just a convenience. Besides as insane as Jaune being Ozpin's aid it, there is no way two high-schoolers can pass as assistants for a councilwoman (at least I don't think so) and it makes Cinder's planning sessions easier.

* * *

Now, Yang's attraction toward Blake!

This one I based off an interesting 'soldier vs warrior' debate I was having concerning another character from another show and the difference in attraction between the 'soldier' and the 'warrior'. The way I see it, a soldier sees themselves as a civilian outside of combat and might be more liable to search for a civilian spouse and comforting to the norms of whatever society they live in. Someone removed from the grim fighting and desperate struggle of war. Someone they are willing to protect.

A 'warrior' in my opinion often searches for an equal! Someone to fight besides them, someone who they respect enough to the point of being willing to put their trust and life into their hands. And to a warrior society's norms don't apply as they do with the soldier. If they see their own version of beauty beneath, it wouldn't matter what the outside looks like. To a warrior, race, gender, age, beauty is irrelevant and second place at best.

Now, for those of you who ask "In that case why not Mercury/Coco?" two other characters I've made just as strong if not stronger than Yang in this setting? Because to her they aren't equals, they are something she is willing to strive for!

Now admittedly this is all speculative and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, yada-yada-yada!

That is my justification for it and if you disagree, please PM me or simply move to another story. After all there are thousands of better authors out there.

That is the explanation behind Bumblebee for me and my story.

As for White Rose…. That's going to take a while to get going. Sorry. White Rose is my own personal favorite, but even I can't deny the amount of things that need to be right for it to 'blossom' (God dammit Barb!)

That is all for this time, join me again in Arc 2 where we discover the darker side of fame with Pyrrha Nikos' stalker!


End file.
